Governor John Bel Edwards has officially extended the stay at home order to May 15th and blasts a legislative petition that if passed would overturn the state’s public health emergency declaration backing the order.
Edwards says passage of the petition would potentially disqualify Louisiana from what could be hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid and put the public’s health in jeopardy.
“Silly is not the right word, it would be profoundly regrettable and unfortunate to a degree that I don’t think sensible legislators would entertain the idea,” said Edwards.
The Governor says overturning the order would be “just completely irresponsible and nonsensical” and it would make us “The only state in the nation without an emergency declaration in place for the public health emergency that is COVID-19 when we are the 6th highest state in cases per capita in the country.”
At his afternoon press conference Thursday Edwards also responded to a letter by Attorney General Jeff Landry asking him to allow churches to reopen before the order ends. Edwards says that’s not in the cards right now.
“I am always interested in loosening restriction on churches and businesses but we are going to do so in a way where we feel comfortable and are not going to cause a spike in cases,” said Edwards.
Edwards did say churches can hold outdoor services with proper spacing, and in Phase One churches can hold indoor services at 25 percent capacity.
East Feliciana and LaSalle Parishes announced they will reopen Friday, but Edwards says while local authorities can impose stricter measures, they can’t authorize relaxed restrictions.
“Any such order would not be valid and we would look for the state, depending on what type of entity it is, to enforce the executive order,” said Edwards.
The governor says that means enforcement from the state health department and state fire marshal.
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