Louisiana Governor Makes Announcement on Statewide Mask Mandate

In response to the rising cases of the omicron variant, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards addressed the media and the state.

On Wednesday, the Louisiana Department of Health reported 1,999 COVID patients in Louisiana hospitals with 111 of them being on ventilators. The daily case count continues to rise at a record pace as more than 17,000 new cases were added.

This follows Monday's announcement by New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell to reinstate an indoor mask mandate. "This variant is much more transmissible and infecting many more people than any other previous strains that we've encountered," stated Edwards, who says the state has seen more than 35,000 COVID-19 reinfections since the start of the pandemic.

Edwards even addressed the fact that Mardi Gras parades will be here soon as the state desperately wants to celebrate the holiday

To many people's surprise, Governor Edwards - who showed up to the press conference wearing a mask - did not reinstate a statewide mask mandate.

Answers to 25 common COVID-19 vaccine questions

Vaccinations for COVID-19 began being administered in the U.S. on Dec. 14, 2020. The quick rollout came a little more than a year after the virus was first identified in November 2019. The impressive speed with which vaccines were developed has also left a lot of people with a lot of questions. The questions range from the practical—how will I get vaccinated?—to the scientific—how do these vaccines even work?

Keep reading to discover answers to 25 common COVID-19 vaccine questions.