Governor John Bel Edwards asks Louisiana residents not to gather outside their household for Christmas this year. Edwards says if you are planning on a regular Christmas celebration, you are making a big mistake. He says every single parish is experiencing high levels of community spread.
“You really can’t have gatherings of any size without a substantial likelihood that one or more people there will have COVID-19, they are going to be contagious,” said Edwards.
On Sunday, the state health department reported 3,738 more coronavirus cases since Friday, 48 more deaths, bringing the death toll to 7,042. COVID patients in the hospital declined by 13 to 1,534.
State officials are concerned that adding a post-Christmas surge on top of our current post-Thanksgiving surge could overwhelm our healthcare capacity.
He also shot down the idea that you can have a safe, multigenerational gathering by having everyone involved take a COVID test beforehand.
“Cause of a test is a snapshot, you may be in the process of developing the disease, but you don’t test positive because you don’t shed enough of the virus to test positive,” said Edwards.
The current Phase Two order is set to expire Wednesday. Edwards says to expect, at the very least, that the current level of restrictions will be extended into 2021.
“If you just look at the data that we’ve been presented, you should know we are not going to be lessening restrictions for sure,” said Edwards.
A White House Coronavirus Task Force report shows overall test positivity appears to be decreasing in Louisiana even as total numbers of new cases hold steady.
Governor Edwards next COVID-19 briefing is scheduled for Tuesday, December 22.
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