Governor John Bel Edwards’s health emergency orders for the COVID pandemic expire today, and some medical experts are worried he may be lifting the order too soon. Tulane University Medical School epidemiologist Dr. Susan Hassig says she’s concerned because the virus isn’t “gone” yet,
“It continues to mutate and we don’t know what the next mutation will bring to us. I’m a little concerned that having dropped it, it may be more problematic to re-issue it if we need to.”
Dr. Hassig says a new mutated variant could arise and catch the people of the state with their guard down, because lifting the emergency orders sends a message the crisis is over.
“Louisiana only has half of its population fully vaccinated. A new variant could hit us really hard, and that’s what I’m concerned about.”
Hassig is happy to see a lull in cases of coronavirus but reminds us there have been four such lulls previously in the two-year pandemic. She says the virus is not yet ENDEMIC, because that would mean some predictability of infection going forward, which is not yet the case. She’s worried we’ll have another surge, and so her advice: “save your masks and consider getting the shots.”
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