Governor Edwards Drops Most, But Not All, Of The Mask Mandate
The State of Louisiana reported just 282 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 today, and only has 323 patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19. In the shadow of those numbers, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has decided to lift a large portion of the state-wide COVID-19 mask mandate.
Public K-12 Schools in the State of Louisiana will remain under a mask mandate. Private schools across the state are free to lift their mandates.
However, Public K-12 schools can "opt out" as long as they continue to follow CDC guidelines on quarantine procedures. Meaning a school can have a mask mandate, but allow students with close contacts to avoid quarantine. Or they can ditch the masks, but keep the quarantine measures in place.
"I will lift Louisiana’s statewide mask mandate in all settings except for K-12 schools, which may opt out as long as they continue implementing existing CDC quarantine guidance"
This re-issued mask mandate came back on August 4th, and has remained in place ever since. When the mandate was re-issued, the state had a 7-day rolling average of over 3,000 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 daily. Since then, Louisiana's 7-day rolling average has dropped down to around 323 cases.