It is time all of us support our elected leaders who find themselves making some very tough decisions during this pandemic. I know most of us are, but I am seeing and hearing a lot of bickering, complaining and, frankly, some partisan whining about new stay-at-home orders in Louisiana and New York. That is disappointing because these leaders are making decisions based on the best information they have available in a developing situation none of them, or us, have seen other than war-gaming or the movies.

Here in Louisiana, Governor John Bel Edwards is using every bit of his West Point military training and leadership skills—it shows. As I write this his most recent order is taking effect and, considering our current situation, it may not go far enough in New Orleans and the northern part of one adjacent parish (we call counties parishes here). Essentially, Louisiana is implementing a stay-home policy that limits gatherings to no more than 10 people, including closing all businesses with more than 10 employees at work concurrently. Unfortunately, the best available data is not currently supported by enough testing results to enable any better decision than to apply these orders to the entire state with only one exception, and that is the New Orleans area.

I believe Governor Edwards, Mayor of New Orleans Cantrell, and President of Jefferson Parish Cynthia Lee Sheng do have enough data to implement a pandemic response quarantine of Orleans Parish and Northern Jefferson Parish. I realize a lot of folks don’t want to hear this and are going to be mad at me, but I am compelled by sense of duty to speak out, offering the benefit of my experience. New Orleans and Northern Jefferson Parish are a definite hot-spots for COVID-19 and need to be quarantined immediately. People that work there but live elsewhere need to stop going to the city, otherwise endangering the entire greater metro area.

Just look at the numbers at the time of this writing: 1,172 positive test results and 34 deaths in the entire state. But in Orleans Parish and North Jefferson Parish combined there are 819 positive tests and 25 deaths—more than two thirds of the state’s death total, and no other parish or city has more than one or two deaths. As a matter of perspective, that’s a 10-fold increase in a little over seven days.

The governor had to give the statewide stay-at-home order in his latest pandemic response because we don’t know how widespread the virus is from the apparent state epicenter in New Orleans, likely caused by an unrestrained Mardi Gras season. However, we must take stronger measures in order to protect the rest of the state and surrounding area. These measures need to be an absolute travel restriction except for essential services into and out of the area—controlling entry through choke-points like the causeway bridge must be employed and ending air traffic should considered.

Full decontamination of the airport and all public gathering places needs to be accomplished as soon as possible. Finally, get medical resources focused on the New Orleans area as quickly as practicable. According to Missy Wilkinson’s article at Vice.com, “In New Orleans, where most Louisiana cases are concentrated, doctors and nurses think a breakdown might come sooner than that. “Systemic collapse is a true concern,”’ according to an emergency room physician. Time is of the essence to get these stronger measures in place and progressing.

I also believe Governor Andrew Cuomo should consider a quarantine for New York City, as New York is now the nation’s epicenter and the city is a much larger problem. With over eight million people, it is more densely populated than any other American city and has over 12,000 cases resulting in 100 deaths so far.

Outside of these areas the nation’s leaders should have enough data within days to remove carpet-bombing style mass stay-at-home orders and progress toward a precision-targeting approach —like I’ve recommended here— focusing on isolating the sick, the positive test cases, and the most at risk among us. This move must occur because small businesses and their associated jobs will start failing in very large numbers in days, not weeks. As President Trump said during Monday’s national press conference, we will likely start opening up the economy again but that doesn’t mean we won’t still have to continue our efforts and precautions to control this pandemic and defeat it.

Governor Edwards, Governor Cuomo, and their respective state local leaders are doing everything they can to stop the spread and growth of the virus—we can help by following their and local leaders’ guidance in a disciplined and thoughtful way. It is time. We are in a pandemic, and it is well within our power to affect the outcome in a positive way. Let’s roll!