<p>First, how are things going at the end of the first month back?</p>
<p>Second, any word on Mardi Gras? I listened to a very sad report on NPR last week about the state of the ERs in NO, and one nurse/admin person who was interviewed was very concerned about coping during Mardi Gras. We over here are very concerned about MG, too, we’re afraid a lot of people will come here who ordinarily go to NO. Is the city really pushing the celebration, etc?</p>
<p>Cannot cooment og MG, but my son is very happy to be back in NOLA, and reports that, at least on campus, things are good.</p>
<p>Even tho my S is probably just there for this term (due to Engineering phaseouts and forced transfer) things seem to be “normal” as far as being a student is concerned and he is having a very good time. </p>
<p>As I navigate ordering transcripts, etc. I am hearing and finding that USPS is a bit haphazard, but I’m told FedEx/UPS are reliable and on time.</p>
<p>When we were there for Freshman Orientation, there were several discussions on availability of medical care. I claim no expertise, but there are several ERs operating in the vicinity - not necessarily all in-town NOLA, though (TOURO was one, another whose name I now forget; I thought Tulane’s hospital was to be back online in early-mid Feb). It seemed to me that the city was, yes, promoting Mardi Gras. Fewer krewes, is it a shorter number of days (I seem to have a vague memory of that)? My own take is that NOLA having a celebratory Mardi Gras will be pretty important for its comeback. People will be watching and I’m afraid will “write it off” if they can’t stage MG this year.</p>
<p>Read somewhere that the Jazz and Blues Fest is on…</p>
<p>That agrees with what we have heard over here. The thrust of the NPR piece was that the wait times at the ERs were horrendous - if you were conscious, breathing and not actively bleeding, you would have to wait, even if you had a condition that under more normal circumstances would be seen rapidly - the example they used was an elderly man with a stroke. Three more ERs were close to opening - we still got 3 weeks to go before the height of Mardi Gras.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of angst over here about unmanageable crowds, and the “wilder” Mardi Gras stuff moving over here - we shall see. My son’s high school is trying to draft twice as many dads to walk the parade with the band - what it is they are supposed to do to protect the kids is a mystery to me!</p>