Parishes reversing course to re-open after Gov. Edwards extends stay-at-home order

NEW ORLEANS, La. (WVUE) - St. Bernard citizens were starting to carefully move about, as parish government prepared to re-open by the weekend.

“I’m popping at the seams here wanting our economy to get back, I want everything to be normal,” said St. Bernard Parish President, Guy McInnis.

While a little disappointed at the need to reverse course, McInnis knows it’s a decision that’s in the interest of the entire state, not just the residents of St. Bernard Parish.

“We’re excited moving into a new phase if he will even it’s not where we wanted to our businesses have been working so hard putting together the individual plans… we stand ready to do our part to make sure that we are a member of this team in the state of Louisiana moving forward,” said McInnis.

“The state doesn't meet the criteria to move to stage 1 under the guidelines,” said Governor John Bel Edwards.

The governor saying he too was hopeful to start moving to phase one, but says one-third of Louisiana’s regions are still seeing increases in cases, two regions have seen more hospitalizations, while two other regions have plateaued.

“Louisiana has successfully stopped short of overwhelming the healthcare system and that’s because of people who took seriously the stay home order they took seriously social distancing and hygiene,” said Edwards.

While people may recognize parish and city boundaries, according to infectious disease specialist, Dr. Fred Lopez, the virus does not.

“We live in close proximity to other regions within the state of Louisiana, once the virus gets anywhere around humans we can see hotspots that can develop,” said Lopez.

He says that while some parishes may be seeing a decrease in cases, overall, the state is still not.

“We in Orleans Parish in the local parishes can feel good about what these efforts have made over the last month, they’re very reinforcing we just don’t want people to relax and stop because once we do that we are going to see cases,” said Lopez.

McInnis says he’s trying to re-invigorate citizens to continue social distancing measures, reminding them of what’s truly at stake.

“We just have to continue to do this for another couple of weeks and for what we’ve been through and what our healthcare has been through, friends of ours working in healthcare what they’ve been through, we don’t want to go through that again,” said McInnis.

McInnis says no Covid 19 patients treated in St. Bernard Parish are on ventilators.

He also supports the governor’s announcement for those dealing with the public to wear face masks, and says they’re excited to start opening those businesses for open-air seating.

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