The Jefferson Parish Council unanimously approved a resolution requesting Governor John Bel Edwards to allow individual parishes to move into Phase 3 if they meet coronavirus case criteria.
Council members voted to approve the resolution at Tuesday’s council meeting. It asks Governor Edwards to relax current statewide COVID-19 restrictions and allow individual regions or parishes to move forward into Phase 3 based on each parish's coronavirus statistics rather than a statewide coronavirus mandate.
Jefferson Parish District 2 Councilman Deano Bonano created the council resolution supported by parish council members.
“In the beginning the reasons for the restrictions was the need not to over tax our hospital system,” Bonano said. “But now that is not the case. I have difficulty understanding or even put credibility in the state’s [coronavirus] numbers especially, when some of the cases they report were as much as a month old at the time they reported them.”
Bonano says despite a spike in coronavirus cases in April, Jefferson Parish has remained flat in coronavirus cases and below hospital maximum capacity for at least three months.
Concerned that Hurricane Laura evacuations would spike coronavirus cases in the state, last week Governor Edwards extended the Phase 2 restrictions until September 11. This means bars remain closed and restaurants and businesses are restricted to 50% of their capacity.
Councilwoman Jennifer Van Vrancken says the resolution opens a dialogue with the governor and urges him to allow the parish to move into Phase 3.
“Because we are hearing from our business community that they are at the breaking point at this moment, and they need information on when do we move to the next phase, and what will that phase allow me to do so that they can open safely,” said Van Vrancken.
The council made it clear that the resolution does not force the governor into lifting current coronavirus restrictions.
“We are not trying to do that,” said Councilman Scott Walker. “Let the next couple of weeks play out and while we are in phase 2...and when the governor is ready to make that decision again, we hope that he has a little bit of a more regional approach than a statewide approach, which he has not be inclined to do, so far.”