This news will come as a shock to a great number of you reading this article. Louisiana still has a statewide mask/face covering mandate as it relates to coronavirus mitigation measures. Now, I realize that you couldn't tell that by looking if you were to observe the people that might have gathered at a local watering hole over the weekend or maybe were doing some shopping in your neighborhood grocery. But the mandate is still in effect.

However, Governor John Bel Edwards, speaking last week, offered some hints that he is at least considering doing away with the obligatory face covering. He also said, he would not make a decision on ending the statewide mask mandate until after he has reviewed the latest data on coronavirus mitigation measures across the state. That review of new data could come as early as this week.

At last Thursday's press briefing Edwards touted the states Bring Back Louisiana Program as one of the key reasons he might considering rescinding the masking protocol. The state has announced vaccination events in all nine of Louisiana's public health regions. Many were held over the weekend and there are plans to hold more.

As more and more of the state's residents get the vaccination you can expect fewer and fewer mitigation measures to be renewed or reinforced. This is of course assuming that the current vaccines do what medical professionals believe they will in not only fighting off the current version of the coronavirus but the different variants that have been noted over the past few months as well.

Over 1.1 million Louisiana residents have been vaccinated against coronavirus. In Acadiana, that's almost 125,000 people with more and more getting jabbed every day. Louisiana Department of Health officials estimate that about 25% of Louisiana residents have been vaccinated.

In Acadiana, the vaccination rate is listed at 20.5% of the population. The New Orleans area has the highest rate of vaccination at 31.2% while the lowest rate of vaccinations in the state is in the Lake Charles area where only 17.2% of people have been vaccinated.

Okay, for a lot of us the mask mandate hasn't been something we've embraced. We've done it because, well you have your own reasons, but it's not the only thing in the state that we don't care for. Believe it or not, there are a few other things we'd just as soon not see. I guess we can add face masks to the list.

Things Not Welcomed Into State of Louisiana

 

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