Rachel Mipro, Louisiana Illuminator

Days after Hurricane Ida knocked out power, people in New Orleans are dealing with extreme heat and gas shortages. Some are struggling to find medicine they need to take.

At the Treme Recreation Center, cars and pedestrians lined up to get bags of ice and Meals Ready to Eat (MREs).

Kim Silver, one of the people standing in line for food, said she and her neighbors were banding together to cook all of the meat they had in their freezers before anything spoiled. Silver is making do, but she is worried about her grandchildren, whom she hasn't been able to contact since they evacuated. ...

A child under the age of one died from COVID-19 in Louisiana this week, the state Department of Health announced Wednesday.

The child is one out of 11 children younger than 18 that have died from COVID-19 in Louisiana. According to the LDH, this is the youngest COVID-19 death in more than six months, marking the growing impact of the Delta variant on younger demographics.

“Each COVID-19 death in Louisiana has been heart wrenching, but the loss of such a young child, who could not be vaccinated yet, is tragic and a stark reminder of the difficult circumstance we are in throughout Louisiana," Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a released statement. “Right now, we are seeing younger people hospitalized. They are getting sicker than in the previous surge and, unfortunately, some of them may die." ...