Louisiana Reinstates Indoor Mask Mandate Amid Spike in COVID-19 Hospitalizations

Louisiana Reinstates, Indoor Mask Mandate, Amid Spike in COVID-19 Hospitalizations.

Louisiana Reinstates, Indoor Mask Mandate, Amid Spike in COVID-19 Hospitalizations.

On Monday, Louisiana reinstated its statewide indoor mask mandate.

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The mandate will go into effect on Wednesday.

Governor John Bel Edwards took to Twitter to speak about the state’s decision to restore the mask rule.

According to Gov.

Edwards, the state is experiencing an alarming spike in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations due to the highly transmissible delta variant.

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The Delta variant is different than the original strains of COVID.

It is more than two times as transmissible, and while vaccination reduces one's chances of becoming infected with COVID, fully vaccinated people infected with Delta can transmit the virus to others.

, Governor John Bel Edwards, via Twitter.

Speaking again during a news briefing, Gov.

Edwards said Louisiana’s current recommendations are “not strong enough.”.

It has become extremely clear that our current recommendations on their own are not strong enough to deal with Louisiana’s fourth surge of COVID.

, Governor John Bel Edwards, via Huffpost.

He went on to call Louisiana’s COVID-19 uptick the “worst one [they’ve] had.”.

This is bad.

And it’s not this bad anywhere else in the country today … In fact, nobody should be laboring under the misapprehension that this just another surge.

This is the worst one we’ve had, Governor John Bel Edwards, via Huffpost.

Louisiana currently has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the United States, with only 43 percent of residents having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

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Louisiana currently has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the United States, with only 43 percent of residents having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

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Only 37 percent of residents are fully vaccinated.

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The state’s largest hospital, Our Lady of the Lake, currently has “no beds left.” .

There are no beds left.

These are the darkest days of this pandemic.

We are no longer giving adequate care to these patients, Dr. Catherine O’Neal, Chief Medical Officer of Our Lady of the Lake, via Twitter