Louisiana Sets Up Commission to Reopen Economy and Get Workers Back to Work

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Thursday that while life in the state would not fully return “back to normal” until a vaccine is found for COVID-19, he said he would not wait for that before reopening the economy.

“This is going to be a process thats going to unfold over a number of weeks and months and so forth,” he said, adding, “were not going to get back to normal until we have a vaccine and some effective therapeutic treatments, but were not going to wait till then before we start to reopen the economy, get businesses back open, get workers back to work.”

Edwards said state authorities have developed a process for reopening, which involves setting up an advisory commission called Resilient Louisiana.

“COVID-19 represents a historic challenge to our ability to respond medically and save lives, but it also represents a tremendous challenge for Louisianas economy and the prosperity of each one of our residents,” Edwards said in a written statement. “For these reasons, we need a comprehensive game plan for creating a more resilient Louisiana.”

The 18-member panel will take the form of a state commission that will be tasked with “examining Louisianas economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic and making recommendations for more resilient business-related activities and commerce in the coming months.” It will include Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser and will be co-chaired by Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson.

“I look forward to serving on this commission to find the best possible return of our economy,” Nungesser said. “We have been tested as a state before with hurricanes, floods and the 2010 oil spill, and we have always shown our resilience in our ability to come back stronger. If anyone is able to bounce back from this COVID-19 crisis, its Louisianans.”

The commission will be charged with strengthening specific sectors of the states economy, including education, energy, health care, manufacturing, and tourism.

“Our commissions task to build a more resilient Louisiana will take a deep dive into all aspects of our economy, how sectors have been impacted and how we can safely re-energize them for long-term success in an uncertain future,” commission co-chair Pierson said.

It will also work on developing strategies to make communities more resilient in the face of future health care threats and other risks.

“We all recognize that COVID-19 brings a unique and different kind of threat, and we will work as a team to create the very best practices for moving forward today and for building resiliency tomorrow,” Pierson said.

Pressure has been building to reopen the economy as roughly 95 percent of the U.S. population is now under stay-at-home orders, and many factories, restaurants, stores, and other businesses are closed or have seen sales shrivel.

“My anxiety is through the roof right now, not knowing whats going to happen,” said Laura Wieder, who was laid off from her job managing a now-closed sports bar in Bellefontaine, Ohio.

In a stark illustration of how the virus-driven economic rout has hit Americas entrepreneurs, layoffs at small businesses with fewer than 49 employees jumped by 1,136 percent month-over-month, according to a recent payroll processing company report. And in todays weekly jobless claims report, the Labor Department said more than 5 million U.S. workers filed for unemployment during the week ending April 11, bringing the seasonally adjusted insureRead More – Source