Louisiana Governor “Not Considering” Any New COVID Restrictions
With so much talk about the "Delta variant" of COVID-19, there has been a lot of confusion. Part of that has to do with the media. Remember, research shows that United States mainstream media spread negative news about COVID 87% of the time since the start of the pandemic. Which is compared to a 51% negative news on an international level.
So many who have been watching cable news for their COVID information will likely be shocked to find out that the World Health Organization has issued guidance to leaders around the world to stop monitoring COVID case counts to make public health decisions. Or that countries who have already experienced increased cases due to the "Delta variant" did not see a corresponding increase in hospitalizations or deaths.
Instead, a lot of media is still following the "If it bleeds it leads" concept, and will post outlandish headlines like "State Loses Months of COVID Progress". What does that even mean? Did someone come into the state and take vaccines out of people's arms? Did the people who recovered from COVID lose their antibodies?
Perhaps most shocking for people who only get their COVID information from talking heads on TV is what Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said at his COVID press conference on Friday, July 16th, 2021.
Edwards, a Democrat, gave a press conference where he talked about increases to case counts because of the "Delta variant". It may have been odd to some that during all of his prepared remarks, the words "restrictions" or "mandates" did not appear.
After he turned it over to guest speakers, including State Health Officer Dr. Joseph Kanter, Edwards returned to the microphone to open things up for questions. The first one up asked the Governor when he's going to impose new restrictions and mandates...and the Governor laid it down pretty clearly when he said:
"Clearly the difference with now, and previously when we had various mandates and mitigations measures in place is the availability of vaccine. Not just available in small numbers and a few locations, but all the vaccine we need, and more than 1,400 locations. That is what we are focused on right now."
Governor Edwards wrapped up his comment on the idea of new restrictions and mandates by saying:
"At the moment I am not considering re-imposing any mitigation measures or mandates."
Now some may quickly point out "At the moment" in that statement. But when you watch the video of the Governor, he's not saying something coy when he said that. No extra emphasis. Just an escape rope if something unforeseen happens.
Which is important. Because going back to one of the other speakers at the Friday press conference, Dr. Joseph Kanter, he was very clear that the case numbers that we have seen increase in the state will continue. He said on multiple occasions that he expects all of those numbers to drastically increase. Which is very important in this context.
Dr. Kanter has been the Governor's main source on COVID information since he took over his role. If Dr. Kanter believes that the numbers will continue to increase over the coming weeks, that is information that has already been shared with Governor Edwards. So for him to say that he is not considering any new restrictions or mandates, that is WITH the knowledge that Dr. Kanter believes the numbers will drastically increase.
You can watch the press conference here: