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About two weeks ago, certain businesses in Lafayette Parish opened their doors to a new way of doing things.
They wear masks if interacting with customers.
They established systems for spacing employees and customers six feet apart.
They monitor employees’ health and don’t allow sick workers to report in.
They keep to 25% of their fire marshal’s set capacity. And if they don’t, they risk fines and even having their utilities cut.
It meant some adjustments, creativity and patience, but they were back in business. Meeting their customers’ needs, providing paychecks for their employees and jump-starting a community’s economy – safely.
That’s because the leadership in that area listened to employers, consulted with health care experts, worked with economic development officials and came up with a creative solution for businesses that fall within the “gray area” of the governor’s stay at home order. They’re non-essential, but also non-prohibited.
They trusted their people.
It’s estimated in Lafayette Parish alone, that gray area covered roughly 60% of the parish’s businesses.
And the governor confirmed that indeed, this “Safe Shop Policy” complied with his order, and these gray area businesses could have been open this whole time, with such safety measures in place.
So, if this type of policy is deemed safe and smart for one community, why not for the rest of the state?
Governments don’t exist without taxpayers and taxpayers don’t exist without jobs. It’s time to start listening to employers on how best to put the pieces of our economy back together.
The best way to listen to employers is simply to pay attention to what is happening right now in towns across Louisiana.
The businesses providing essential services, such as hardware stores, grocers, the maintenance and construction companies, have operated safely for weeks now.
They are meeting the needs of the community, keeping their workers employed and taking smart steps to protect public health.
They’ve shown us how to conduct ourselves, and in the meantime, the curve has indeed flattened.
There’s an all-too-prevalent but incorrect assumption that when anyone speaks about the need to open businesses back up, they’re putting the almighty dollar ahead of human lives.
But that’s just not the case.
That’s a political talking point. These are our neighbors, our friends, job-creators in our own communities who want to do the right thing. They just want to be allowed to do so.
We’ve all had to pivot in our personal lives. We’ve figured out video conferencing.
We’ve adjusted to home school. We’ve altered our daily lives to meet our household needs with health at the forefront, and employers at essential businesses have done the same.
When forced to adapt, these entrepreneurs, leaders, thinkers and doers have come up with innovative ways to serve, in a way that makes their clients and customers confident they’re entering a safe environment.
Since this crisis started, nearly 350,000 jobs have been lost.
Each one of those represents a Louisiana family who is now desperately searching for stability and answers – for them, two weeks is too long a wait. Some projections put the state’s post COVID-19 unemployment rate near 22 percent, which would be the highest since the Great Depression.
At LABI, our more than 2,000 member businesses large and small collectively employ more than 320,000 Louisiana workers – including a significant number in the health care sector.
We constantly seek their guidance and input, and have spent the past few weeks reaching out individually and in groups to understand what they need to bounce back from the effects of this shutdown.
They’ve been specific in asking that certain regulations be lifted to allow operations, that incentives be tweaked to keep investment robust, and that laws – especially liability protection – be changed in the short term, so they can recover in the long-term.
We look forward to releasing those policy recommendations in the coming weeks, but in the immediate future, we ask for something far simpler: It’s time for government to start trusting the people they represent again.
Everyone has learned a lot over the last month or so.
We are all much wiser to the need to take smart, sanitary steps to protect ourselves, our family and our neighbors. People get it.
Businesses get it, too.
It’s time to let people start using that new knowledge and get back to work in a safe manner.
The Legislature seems to get it.
They have already stated they are ready to get back to work in a safe way and they seem ready to focus on steps to piece this broken economy back to together again.
We commend them for that mindset and hope the governor will adopt the same goal soon.
Trust is a two-way street.
The people of Louisiana trusted government weeks ago when they were told to sacrifice everything they had to stay home for the greater good.
That trust has held firm for weeks now. Now, it is time for government to return that trust to them.
The people have earned that right by their commitment to social distancing, by their sacrifice of their jobs, by the health care providers who have fought courageously, by the employers who stayed open to serve and by the ones patiently begging and waiting for a chance to do the same.
It’s time to get back to work. It’s time for government to return that trust.
Stephen Waguespack is president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.

Children who are too young to communicate through language often relay their needs through crying. A piercing cry is designed to get mom and dad’s attention and is an effective way to convey hunger, soiled diapers and/or illness. Many parents have become adept at reading the subtle differences between cries to better understand their children’s needs.
One cry that can often baffle caregivers is the cry that seemingly never stops: colic. Colic is an inconsolable cry that lasts for up to three hours a day, three days a week for longer than three weeks.
Parents magazine states up to 25 percent of all babies between the ages of two weeks and three months develop colic. A colic diagnosis might be given after medical providers rule out a medical reason for the crying.
In their attempts at getting some peace and quiet, parents may look to the internet to learn more about colic. Unfor-tunately, many myths prevail about colic, and that can make it even harder to understand this difficult condition.
1. Myth: My baby is in pain.
Truth: According to Barbara Prudhomme White, Ph.D., an assistant professor of health and human services at the University of New Hampshire, colicky babies experience no greater increase in the levels of the stress hormone cortisol than those without colic. Any grimacing or other faces that appear like pain are probably not.
2. Myth: All babies will grow out of it.
Truth: Although many children outgrow colic by the time they’re six months old, that’s not the case for everyone. If colic is resulting from tight clothing, allergy, intolerance, gas, or some other small discomfort, it will not magically resolve by a certain time.
3. Myth: Manipulative therapies help relieve colic.
Truth: Physical therapies like chiropractic manipulation, acupuncture or massage do not demonstrate consistent positive results for colicky babies, according to American Family Physician.
4. Myth: Dietary changes will not help.
Fact: There is some evidence that breastfeeding mothers who change to low-allergen diets have babies with significantly less colic. Switching to hydrolyzed infant formulas also may help reduce colic episodes. Standard formulas can be restarted between three and six months of age.
5. Myth: Colic can’t be controlled.
Fact: A study by Bradley Thach, M.D., a professor of pediatrics at the Washington University School of Medicine, found that wrapping colicky infants snugly in a blanket (swaddling) may soothe them. Other doctors suggest the five-S method. This includes side/stomach positioning, shushing, swinging and giving the baby something to suck on.
6. Myth: Medications can help.
Truth: Do not try an over-the-counter product or something like gripe water without consulting with a pediatrician. Some solutions do not have any demonstrated effectiveness and may cause harm.
Understanding colic and learning to disseminate fact from fiction can help parents and their babies get through this potentially difficult time in their lives.

Amid frustrated groans from many furloughed workers and many in the business community, Governor John Bel Edwards took the advice of his cabinet and healthcare experts Monday and announced, "I am extending the Stay-at-Home order from April 30 to May 15."  Edwards said he is trying to strike the right balance between public health and economic health, explaining that, since Louisiana depends heavily on tourism, conventions and sports fans, any spike or relapse of COVID-19 cases could be doubly fatal to the state's economy.
    Less than 48 hours after the extension, Governor Edwards was sitting side-by-side with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, the only Democratic governor in the Deep South meeting with the nation's top Republican.  As they sat in gold fabric chairs flanking the executive fireplace, before them on facing settees were Vice President Mike Pence; Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief immunologist leading the White House Coronavirus Task Force; Dr. Deborah Birx, White House COVID Response Coordinator; Dr. Blythe Adamson, health scientist; and Dr. Alex Billioux, assistant secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health.
"John Bel and I," explained the president, "it looked like Louisiana was going to be missed for a while [by the Coronavirus].  It was not registering and then all of a sudden, Tony [Dr. Fauci] called me and Deborah [Dr. Birx] called me and said, 'What's going on in Louisiana?' because it went like a rocket ship [up in COVID cases] all of a sudden."
Governor Edwards added, "We had the highest growth rate of cases in the world.  We were on a trajectory to match Spain and Italy, so when you begin modeling that, we knew we had a short period of time.  We got 350 ventilators from the stock pile -thank you very much [to the president]- and sourced a few hundred more as a state.  We built the beds and we've serviced about 200 COVID patients at the [New Orleans Morial] Convention Center but nowhere near what we had feared and we thank you very much."  Governor Edwards also thanked the president for promising 200,000 more tests to be used in Louisiana.
President Trump invited Louisiana's Democratic governor as one of only a handful of governors he feels has tried to cooperate fully with the White House.  The day before, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sat in the same chair and the next day told Floridians he'd take a more controlled response such as allowing the state's 41,000 restaurants to open but with only 25% occupancy.  Louisiana is trying to abide by the Trump administration's criteria of COVID case reductions for 14 straight days before reopening.  Of the nine states that have begun reopening, some without regard to social distancing, none have met the 14-day criteria.
Just five months ago, the President was in Louisiana two days before the gubernatorial election campaigning against Edwards for Republican Eddie Respone.  Though 58 percent of Louisianans voted for Trump in 2016, they overrode the president's choice last November and returned West Point graduate John Bel Edwards for a second term.
Governor Edwards quickly forgave the president, saying he learned lessons from studying the administrations of other governors, primarily that of another Governor Edwards.  Edwin Edwards practiced bipartisanship, becoming close friends with staunch Republican Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and both George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.  The former Governor Edwards said at the time he quickly understood that federal purse strings ran through the White House.
The bipartisan diplomacy paid off in this unprecedented pandemic for the current Governor Edwards and the state of Louisiana as the state became the southern epicenter of COVID-19.  The president's relationship with the Democratic governor developed quickly with a trust that allowed Edwards to be firm when ventilators were needed but honest about not taking federal aid that was not needed.
"I called John Bel because we were ready to start another hospital [in Louisiana]," explained President Trump.  "We just finished one hospital with a lot of beds and we were ready to start another and he was doing so well and the state was doing so well, I called him and said, 'Do you think we should build that hospital?' I think it was 500 beds.  And he said, 'No, I don't think we're going to need it. So it's good not to build some things and I think we put it someplace where they did need it."
"Mr. President," Governor Edwards added, "look at the plan you made for 30 days to stop the spread.  The mitigation measures that you promoted in that plan are carried forward in the guidelines for reopening.  It's sort of a seamless way to do it by keeping those mitigation measures in place as you need to in order to reopen, especially for the vulnerable population."
Reopening is the stickler in every state.  But despite helping federal aid to other states by taking what was only needed, the Democratic Louisiana governor was still shunned for what appears to be partisan politics.  Two weeks prior, a group of Republican southern governors conferenced about strategies to reopen but the Democratic governors of Louisiana, North Carolina and Virginia were left out.
At this meeting in this Oval Office, party was left behind.
"I just want to congratulate you," President Trump wrapped up amid clicking shutters in a room packed with reporters not practicing social distancing or wearing masks. The president also congratulated Louisiana for LSU's National Football Championship, mentioning that he and Governor Edwards had called Coach Ed Orgeron before starting the meeting.  "He's a character but he knows how to coach a team, I'll tell you that," crowed President Trump.  "Your quarterback [Joe Burrow] just went Number One in the NFL draft, an easy Number One.  He got the most votes ever for the Heisman Trophy, unanimous, I think--"
"And he's a great person," Edwards added, "a wonderful citizen.  I think he's going to do Cincinnati proud."
Governor Edwards wrapped up the conciliatory meeting, offering the president, "We're looking forward to moving ahead and just appreciate your work and your contributions to our efforts.  It's been very helpful."
Responded the president, "It's an honor working with you and the people of Louisiana.  Great people.  They've really gone through a lot."
Edwards chuckled, "Well, I'll just say they're the best!" 
The president finished, "They're right there!  They're great people."

Morgan City businessman Skipper Williams compared it to a faucet being shut off.
The longtime owner of Skipper’s Sporting Goods said once sports stopped due to the threat of COVID-19, his business took a hit.
“Once they stopped playing sports, our retail business just dried up,” he said.
He is not alone as Tri-City area businesses are waiting for things to rebound.
Comparisons have been made to the oil crash of the 1980s and hurricanes. But for hurricanes, they bounced back in time.
However, Williams, Glynda Lasseigne, owner of Town and Country Florist in Berwick, and Charlie Solar of Charlie’s Pawn Shop in Morgan City each said they have never been through something comparable to the current situation.
There are unknowns about how things will be in the near future once things reopen.
“I don’t know. It’s scary,” said Lasseigne, who has owned her business for 37 years.
While he didn’t close because they are considered a financial institution, Solar said the pawn shop reduced their hours.
Among the other items they sell are firearms, which Solar said firearm dealers were deemed essential by President Donald Trump.
He said customers now do their shopping via social media and items are delivered to them in their car.
Those that must come inside are cordoned off to a small area to keep employees and customers safe.
“We didn’t want customers to go walk around shopping,” Solar said. “Just come (and) do what you need to do. Make a loan, pay a loan and go about your business.”
Solar said he has seen a slight uptick in pawns but nothing major, which he credited to the stimulus checks issued by the federal government.
Williams said he has been closed for more than a month, and his employees have been home nearly as long.
He said while they felt the effects of the oil and gas industry downturn in the 1980s, they stayed afloat because sports continued, even with orders curtailed.
“This is worse,” he said of COVID-19 with no sports.
When his employees return Monday, he said they will be doing “behind-the-scenes” work to complete orders they have received during the idle period but haven’t been able to complete because they were considered a nonessential business.
While Williams said the business will have enough work to complete for a week or two, after that, the amount of work that is available isn’t known.
Lasseigne said she has had enough work to keep herself busy, but not a full staff. She has been taking orders via phone and delivering them without coming in direct contact with the customer.
“Some days I might have three or four deliveries, and then some days, I might have like maybe 10 deliveries,” she said. “It just depends on what’s going on.”
Lasseigne said her business missed out on revenue from Easter and prom and dance recitals, among other events, which help the business during the summer months.
“Now Mother’s Day, we don’t even know how to order for that,” she said. “I just went on and ordered and just maybe cut it kind of like a third of what I usually do.”
Lasseigne, who actually started her business during the oil industry’s downturn in the 1980s, said she is trying to get her staff back next week, but they will have to make adjustments in the meantime, such as limiting the number of staffers per day, until business returns.
Solar said he is not making any changes until the restrictions are lifted and there is time to make sure things are OK. He also wants his employees to feel comfortable before resuming normal operations.
“Obviously, everybody needs to make a living, but I don’t want to make a living on the cost of somebody’s health,” he said.