Officials combat virus, balance family worries

In the throes of the coronavirus outbreak virtually across the globe, local officials are at defense.
With their civic responsibilities as elected and appointed members of the community, that sometimes comes with the stresses of their work in balance of their personal lives and concerns for their families.
St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff, a father of three boys, said there’s “a little bit of anxiety” about returning to the regular routine of schools.
“Are we going back?” he said of his sons’ worries.
He’s been the primary person to go out and acquire needed things for the household, while his wife manages the day-to-day presence of sons ranging from 9 to 19.
“I am still having to deal with this whole thing from a political level, as parish president,” he said. “Plus I still have to run my company at the same time. My biggest thing right now is juggling family at home and being parish president.”
He said the family often walks the track in Centerville, but “I do enough walking at work, but I am sucking it up.”
Beverly Domengeaux, St. Mary Council on Aging executive director, said the agency has been able to deliver meals to approved clients in the system. “They seem to be handling it pretty good,” she said. “We talk to them every other day on the phone and they’re comments are, ‘Why aren’t people listening?’ They’re in their homes, they’re doing everything they’re supposed to, and they just don’t understand why everybody else isn’t.”
Domengeaux said the community has been “excellent” in responding to the agency’s needs. “I’ve been able to take some shelf food out on the weekends to supplement the hot foods, and have some food in their house. We’re not doing any other in-home services because the governor did not classify them as essential,” she said sadly.
Still, her homemaker staff are calling their clients and we may have to run efforts for them, do a little shopping, find some things that they need.
“All in all, the senior population seems to be handling it a lot better. Like one man said, ‘We went through World War II, through the measles epidemic, through the polio epidemic, and we made it. So this is just another thing.”
Domengeaux said she’s had 17 of her seniors, the clients themselves, “calling to see how I was. My seniors calling me. That really made me feel good.
“Beverly’s hanging in. Just a little worried. I sat down with my finance committee and we’ve got it made.”
Of the local civic and industrial leaders surveyed, the whole and each of them came to the same conclusion, whether personally or publicly: Stay at home.
Franklin Mayor Eugene Foulcard referred to his particular public service announcement (available in this edition) for details concerning official guidelines and practices expected from the city during the statewide “stay at home” mandate.
But he also stated, “This is something the people of Franklin, our state, and our nation should take very seriously, because it is a very, very, dangerous and dreaded virus, and we have to take precautions. I’m so thankful that President Trump and Governor Edwards have issued these guidelines and mandates that they have, and we’ve (Franklin) followed suit. And these tough mitigation efforts should, and I’m hoping and praying, will start to flatten the (theoretical, virus effect matrix) curve.
“We haven’t started to see a flattening just yet, but I’m hopeful that it (the curve) will begin to flatten.”
Apart from his political obligations and views, Foulcard said this about his personal feelings of COVID-19, “It hits home on a personal level.
“It has affected me tremendously, to the degree that I worry endlessly with the thought of, God forbid, my wife, my kids, and my mother could be at risk.
“I love my mother to death, but I still take my precautions that I don’t transmit anything to her. She has been on a self-quarantine for the last two or three weeks now.
“And my siblings—my brothers and sisters, it (COVID-19) has changed the dynamics of how we interact.
“We do a lot of FaceTime, we do a lot of calling. But, of course we are used to interacting face to face. We are taking our precautions. I love my siblings to death, also, but we operate as if we are all ‘carriers’.”
Executive Director of the Port of West St. Mary David Allain said his personal and professional status as, “altered.”
He said his daily routine has been affected in that he and his office-mates have had to stay in compliance with mandates, and coordinate their arrival and departure times at the port office, that through social distancing they are abiding by the governor’s orders.
Baldwin Mayor Abel “Phil” Prejean said, “Baldwin is not in very good financial shape, and this thing has come down and at our expense. We will gauge the financial impact as we move forward.”
When asked about his personal circumstances through this pandemic, Prejean said, “I just recently had surgery. So, I’m recovering from that. I have been working from home as a lot of people around the country have done.
“I’m just doing it from my house.”
And so it goes for the responsible citizenry, at home and taking care, it so goes as well, for those who arrange our common veneer; always there, yet closer apart.
“You just have to take it one day at a time, and not over-think it,” Prejean said. “It’s quite simple: wash your hands, keep your distance from other people, and stay at home. We will get through this.”