Good news, Louisiana!
Your state will end the lock down just as soon as you give your state government the ability to track your movements.
What could possibly go wrong?!
Louisiana’s ability to test for the coronavirus and track down those who came into contact with the infected--two vital elements of reopening the state’s economy – have ramped up considerably as the state inks deals for at least 250 contact tracers and moves closer to reaching its goal for the number of tests deployed per month, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Friday.
The governor said Friday he had signed two contracts, with Accenture and Salesforce, to get 250 contact tracers working at call centers in Lafayette and New Orleans. That number could rise to 700, the number the state has said it may need, as the number of infected rises when restrictions on face-to-face iteractions are loosened.
Edwards and Dr. Alex Billioux, assistant secretary for the state’s Office of Public Health, said contact tracing and testing are crucial to reopening. The state must have the ability to quickly identify new infections through widely-deployed testing. Once it identifies a positive case, contact tracers at the call centers will reach out to people to find out who they came into close contact with – meaning within 6 feet for longer than 15 minutes.