The surging coronavirus pandemic has Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards holding a news conference this morning.
Cases have risen at rates not seen since the pandemic first started, and hospitalizations have already exceeded the first surge. State health officer Dr. Joe Kanter says it's no exaggeration to say hospitals are being overwhelmed.
"There's a lot of patients coming in, granted, the patients generally have more mild symptoms now and we're very thankful for that, but there still is a ton of patients to see," said Dr. Kanter, and he says doctors and nurses are being pushed beyond the limit.
"Hospital workers are more disillusioned now," he told WWL's Newell Normand. "They're just beat, they're exhausted."
While it remains to be seen if the governor will reinstate a mask mandate, Dr. Kanter says if everyone wears a mask, it will slow the spread of the virus.
"If everyone in the room's wearing a cloth mask, it limits the spread," he said. And Dr. Kanter says if no one is wearing a mask but you have a KN-95 mask, put that on, and it will protect you.
"If I'm walking into a room where there's not a lot of people masking right now, I'm wearing a KN-95, because that's the best thing to protect me," he said.
