Edwards to Hold Press Conference Today at 1:30

Governor John Bel Edwards would like to have a word or two with us, the residents of Louisiana later this afternoon. The Governor has announced he will be hosting a press conference to specifically address Louisiana's battle versus COVID-19

You can view the press conference right here on the Governor's Facebook Page.

What will Governor Edwards say in response to the recent announcement by Mayor Latoya Cantrell of New Orleans regarding COVID protocols in the state's largest city? We won't know until this afternoon but we do seem to notice the tide is flowing in the direction of more restrictions in light of the historic caseload and hospitalization numbers.

Louisiana has broken a record for patients in the hospital as a result of COVID-19 every day since August 3rd. The most recent report by the Louisiana Department of Health showed that 2,901 residents of the state were in Louisiana hospital beds being treated for the disease.

An unscientific poll of hospitals around the state found that many are simply out of room for those that are battling the disease. In fact, here is a first-hand report of what life is like inside a COVID unit at a Louisiana hospital. Bernadette Lee of radio station KPEL-FM tells the chilling tale in a story you can read right here.

In addition to rising case counts Louisiana has also seen a significant rise in the number of fatalities attributed to COVID-19. Yesterday's LDH update showed the state's death toll increased by 54. That makes the total number of deaths attributed to coronavirus 11,462 which is roughly the same as the population of Morgan City.

There has been speculation that Governor Edwards will tighten restrictions on community gatherings. In other words, we could be going back to restricting capacity inside restaurants and bars. There could also be specific changes related to vaccination requirements or proof of a negative COVID test.

Despite the fact that more and more Louisiana residents are opting to take the vaccines against the disease there is still quite a great bit of hesitancy. State officials hope that hesitancy will be abated once the vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna are given full approval for use by the FDA instead of their current Emergency Use approval.

We will see what Governor Edwards has to say today, Friday, August 13th at 1:30 pm.