As the rate of coronavirus infection in Orleans Parish consistently outranked most other US counties, Together Louisiana raised an early alarm that the conversation about Covid-19 was overlooking New Orleans. Weeks after Together LA leaders produced their own research, based on county-by-county analysis of cases per 1,000 people, local media responded and confirmed what leaders had been arguing for weeks.
One “metaphor we throw around every day is, this truck is moving faster and faster; it’s moving at different distances and different speeds in different places,” said Shawn Moses Anglim, pastor of First Grace United Methodist Church, and a leader with Together Louisiana. “But in New Orleans, the truck is a block away, and it’s coming at 120 mph.”
For weeks, congregational leaders have been educating the public about how early precautionary measures can save lives months later.
[Photo Credit: David Grunsfeld, Times Picayune]
New Orleans Has Some of the Highest Coronavirus Infection Rates in the US - Yet It's Overlooked, The Advocate [pdf]
March 15th Infographic Demonstrating Outbreak in New Orleans, Together Louisiana
How Early Intervention Can Save Lives, Together Louisiana