Gov. Edwards: Put your masks on when indoors

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards is telling people to mask up when indoors as the Delta variant fuels a fourth surge of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We're recommending that all people, vaccinated and unvaccinated, mask while indoors if six feet of physical distancing cannot be maintained," Edwards said.

Gov. Edwards made the announcement as Louisiana hospitalizations soared above 1,000 for the first time since early February.

Louisiana COVID hospitalizations leap past 1,000

The governor said Louisiana is leading the nation in daily new cases per 100,000 residents.

Hospitalizations in today's report from the Louisiana Department of Health are at 1,008. That is more than double the number it was two weeks ago.

The governor said a year ago, we were hoping and praying for effective vaccines to help end the pandemic, and now that we have them, too few people are taking them. Around 40 percent of Louisianans have had at least one shot, and Gov. Edwards said that is not nearly enough.

"We didn't take full advantage of the time we had to get a significant percentage of our state vaccinated, and it pains me to say this but this one is on us," said Edwards. "This surge is on us."

With fewer than 37 percent of the state fully vaccinated, health officials warn more people will end up in the hospital, and more will die, especially among the unvaccinated individuals, with the highly contagious Delta variant spreading rapidly among them.