UPDATED: Doctors hope new mask mandate will help ease burden on hospitals

Staff Report
Standing beside physicians and hospital executives overwhelmed by COVID-19, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Monday that masks will again be required in indoor public spaces statewide beginning Wednesday.
The mandate applies to people whether or not they’re vaccinated against the coronavirus and will be in effect until Sept. 1.
The mandate is the latest state response to the resurgence of COVID, which is spreading and putting people in hospitals faster than at nearly any other point in the pandemic. Public health officials blame the fourth wave on the highly transmissible and highly virulent Delta variant and low vaccination rates in some regions, including Louisiana.
“It’s clear that our current recommendations are not strong enough,” Edwards said Monday at a press conference in Baton Rouge.
St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff said at Wednesday’s Parish Council meeting that he will not impose a parish-specific mask mandate here. Monday’s announcement by Edwards didn’t change his mind.
“While I understand where the governor’s coming from,” Hanagriff said in an interview Monday, “I personally don’t believe we need a mask mandate right now.”
Hanagriff went along with mask requirements and other mitigation measures early in the pandemic, when knowledge about the disease was uncertain and no vaccine had been developed, he said.
But “at this point in the game, I’m not in favor of a mask mandate, particularly for those who are vaccinated,” he said.
Hanagriff urged people to get vaccinated and said people who feel they need masks to protect themselves or their families should feel free to wear them.
The re-instituted mask mandate applies to everyone over 5, including students who return to school this month.
Dr. Teresa Bagwell, St. Mary superintendent, sent this message Monday after the governor’s press conference:
“My message to parents, students, and staff is to understand and adapt to the re-instituted mask mandate as it is a minor inconvenience that can make a major difference in the lives of others.
"The safety and well-being of our community is of utmost importance and as our students return to class, they are fully prepared and experienced in following COVID-19 guidelines that protect them and their families.
“The reissuance of a temporary mask requirement was anticipated, and schools are ready to implement the established health protocols that became common place last school year. An executive order from Washington already required students to wear masks on school buses.”
Young people must be at least 12 to be eligible for vaccination.
“It’s vitally important that we protect our children, especially those who are too young to be vaccinated,” Edwards said.
Dr. Mark Kline, a pediatric disease specialist at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, sounded more alarm bells.
“I have to tell you I’m as worried about our children as I have ever been,” Kline said at Monday’s press conference.
Earlier COVID variants seemed to go easier on young people. Now Kline said the hospital is seeing 20 young COVID patients, with four to six in intensive care. Half the children with COVID had no underlying health condition that made them vulnerable to coronavirus infection.
With the mask mandate, “I feel we’ve been thrown a lifeline,” Kline said. “Schools will open, and now we have the tools to keep kids safe.”
Numbers
On Monday, the numbers that apparently persuaded Edwards to toughen mask rules included 11,109 new COVID cases on 81,000 tests; 27 deaths; and 1,984 COVID-positive people in hospitals.
The hospitalizations figure was an increase of 244 since Friday.
The increase in COVID infections shows no signs of slowing down, the governor said.
More COVID is in Louisiana than ever, Public Health Officer Dr. Joseph Kanter said.
The Delta variant is at least twice as transmissible as earlier variants. But, even though break-through infections are being reported among those who have been vaccinated, the vaccines significantly reduce the risk of becoming seriously ill or dying, Kanter said.

Filling up
Hospital staffers and executives from around the state said at Monday’s press conference that the growing number of COVID patients threatens their ability to care not just for people with coronavirus but for those with other illnesses and injuries, too.
Earlier in the pandemic, people shied away from emergency rooms because they feared COVID, said Dr. Phyllis Mason, chief medical officer at Natchitoches Regional Medical Center.
“Now people are comfortable with it,” Mason said.
The combination of COVID patients and those with other problems can mean a wait of three days or more in the emergency room, waiting for an in-patient bed, Mason said.
She urged people to get vaccinated and to wear masks.
“If you don’t trust the science,” she said, “at least respect the virus.”
Michele Sutton is president and CEO of North Oaks Health System in Hammond.
She said COVID among the hospital staff has been a problem, along with low morale.
“Our staff is seeing the deaths of young people,” Sutton said. “We’re not used to that.”
Dr. Catherine O’Neal is chief medical officer at Baton Rouge’s Our Lady of the Lake, Louisiana’s largest hospital.
She said the hospital had 36 COVID patients two weeks ago and now has 155 among 713 people admitted.
“No one disease should take up a quarter of our hospital,” O’Neal said.
“We need you to open beds for us. We need you to do that by getting vaccinated today and by putting your mask on today.”
O’Neal was raised on a farm and said she enjoys driving home from work and seeing farmers at work and young people on motorcycles and four-wheelers.
“These are my people,” O’Neal said.
“If they get maimed today, they’re not going to go to a trauma center because we don’t have any beds.”