Terrebonne Public Safety Director Steve Ponville told a crowd gathered last year at the Mechanicville Gym in Houma their lives were about to change.
“We’re going to have to start doing things differently,” he said. “We’re not trying to scare or alarm you, but for now we need to change the things we are doing. Some people will get mad and won’t like it but it’s just the way it is.”
It was March 12, 2020, the day after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. One case had already been reported in Lafourche, with thousands more to come.