The Advocate's Top Headlines

with Jennifer Wadsworth | Assistant metro editor

Welcome back. Let's take you through some of our latest headlines …

Flu might make a comeback

Masking, distancing and other pandemic precautions led to one of the mildest flue seasons on record last year. As Emily Woodruff reports in this story, COVID never went away, but restrictions are more relaxed and doctors — along with other frontline workers staffing an already overwhelmed healthcare system — are bracing for flu to return with a vengeance. 

School rules

Though Louisiana's Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said school districts should let COVID-exposed students stay in class with their parents' blessing, state health officials are sounding the alarm on that guidance. State Epidemiologist Theresa Sokol said it is of "paramount importance" that students exposed to the coronavirus quarantine for at least seven days and that leaving it up to parents would be a costly, even deadly mistake. Will Sentell has the story. 

Squirrel season

Saturday marked the start of squirrel hunting season, which lasts through the end of February. Here's a story about what we learned from a recent Squirrel Hunting 101 seminar hosted by a Louisiana wildlife official who hopes to keep the tradition alive after generations of waning popularity. 

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