By Eddie D. Gillis

As of press time, the state of Louisiana has lost a staggering 17,297 of its citizens to Covid-19. There are still many people who appear to have taken the pandemic for granted, as the focus from media groups has placed their focus on other matters. In the last year along, many venues that were limiting how many people could be inside of closed spaces has been greatly diminished, despite the fact that a million people has died since the pandemic began. Vaccines developed within the last year has given promise and hope to people in the U.S. that COVID is in the rear view mirror. Crowds are back within closed spaces, as one doesn’t see as many masks being worn by people coming in contact with one another. But, people are still dying from the disease, as it seems a new variant develops just when the medical community gets a handle on the previous variant. Despite the wealth of information available and easy access to vaccines, it would seem that most of America is “celebrating” a victory over a disease that at this time last year, was killing people in the high thousands each day. It didn’t take long for the disease to become a hot political potato, as the sentiment of getting people to listen to their doctors and national health experts because some political leaders began to make the pandemic all about individual rights. It didn’t matter that those who espoused individual rights “being taken” away by Washington politicians, also died from the disease, there was always someone else willing to take their place to continue the effort to divide people, telling them that they should consider “alternative” methods. Covid-19 had touched just about every family in America whether directly or indirectly, but it always seemed to have come down to an individual having the right to reject the vaccine, knowing that there was an excellent chance of them exposing the disease to someone else. When governors put in stringent measure to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, some of the leading opponents were religious leaders. They argued that their right to freely hold religious service was unconditional. One such pastor in Louisiana filed a lawsuit against Gov. John Bel Edwards, as the governor put in place emergency measures during a time when Louisiana was the hotbed of COVID infections. There were people dying from the disease from everywhere, including among those who attended worship service. That pastor won his lawsuit when the La. Supreme Court ruled against the governor and ordered all charges against the pastor quashed. Edwards, though disappointed by the ruling, nonetheless didn’t regret the actions that he took, as nearly every place where people congregated was severely limited to peak capacity. Edwards wasn’t trying to end the practice of religious freedom, but perhaps trying to decrease the number of people dying from the disease. It seemed to make sense. How can a dead person attend a religious service and worship in it if that individual is dead. Being there for your funeral doesn’t count. It makes one wonder just what Jesus would have done, but Jesus was never mentioned during any arguments before judges who heard the case at various legal junctures leading to the final decision. That decision meant that anyone claiming that what they do inside or perhaps outside a building is considered religious(the operative word) in nature and thus protected by the Constitution. But credit should be given to the governor for trying to save lives at a time when it seemed that Covid-19 had no end. One has to wonder just how high the death toll of Louisianans would be over the now 17,297 if the governor had not put in place the measures that he did. It appeared that the Court may not have considered that notion. Stay on guard people, This thing isn’t over yet. The daily count continues.