At a Friday afternoon press conference, Governor Edwards said he was now “strongly considering” reimplementing a statewide mask mandate in light of the Delta variant-fueled 4th wave of COVID cases.
Edwards said about 11% of ER visits are now for COVID-like symptoms, which healthcare providers told him is the highest rate of the pandemic.
“I have received, over the last 24 hours or so, numerous requests from hospitals and healthcare organizations to reinstate a statewide mask mandate,” said Edwards. “We are number one in the country for new case growth per capita, and as the states go we have been labeled a state of concern, the foremost state of concern.”
The state reported over 30 deaths in one day Friday for the first time since March and added over 20,000 new COVID cases last week. Percent positivity on COVID tests jumped back over 10% for the first time in months. The number of hospitalized patients in the state exploded in July from just 259 on July 1st to 1,740 as of July 29th.
Edwards said there are now more people in Baton Rouge hospitals with COVID than there were in the entire state at the start of July.
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