Sound Off for April 6, 2020
Here we go again
The Bonnet Carrie Spillway is once again open! Did Mississippi get a seat on the local Army Corp of Engineers? The Corp is responsible for “opening and closing the spillways!” Devastation to Mississippi saltwater Sound is assured once again by the freshwater intrusion! Once again the MS Gulf Coast can expect more economic disaster from this vicious act! The gorilla in the room is “open the Morganza Spillway first!
New plan
The Army Corps needs to revise their rules for opening the spillways. The Morganza Spillway drains to the west of the mouth of the Mississippi through the Atchafalaya Basin rather than into Lake Pontchartrain and into the Mississippi Sound as the Bonne Carre Spillway does. The first option to mitigate flooding in New Orleans should be to open the Morganza spillway where the fresh water can dissipate into the open Gulf.
Arbitrary number
We’re told not to meet in groups of more than 10. There’s nothing magical about the number 10. If we meet with nine friends at a birthday party or on the beach or at a picnic table in the park, then five could go home with the virus. If you have dinner with one infected person, you will probably spread it to your family. The only magic number is one. If you can stay home, stay home!
Staggering news
I see the governor has closed just about everything, except liquor stores. At least he has his priorities in order!
Cruise port
The port knew a lot three weeks ago. They knew the health threat that cruise ships presented or they would not have told the public that “no crew or passengers would disembark the ship.” They knew that cruise ships were in serious trouble in early March. Yet leadership tried to make a dangerous situation somehow good for Gulfport. The story changes and the spins over the last three weeks are disgusting.
Guess again
Experts may be predicting that the number of new coronavirus cases per day will peak about the 20th, but this doesn’t mean the end. If that does occur what it means is that we will have shown that shelter-in-place, social distancing, etc works and that we have to keep on doing it if we want to keep the curve flat or even push it down
To submit a Sound Off, email soundoff@sunherald.com
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 1:12 PM with the headline "Sound Off for April 6, 2020."