NEW ORLEANS — City leaders said Friday that New Orleans could lag behind the rest of the state in entering phase two of reopening from coronavirus shutdowns.
Dr. Jennifer Avegno, the city's health department director, said during a press conference that the city would try to adhere to the state's plan for reopening, but would make the final call based on local data.
Avegno said it has been too soon since phase one reopening was allowed in the city for conclusive data to show no spikes in cases.
While the two weeks since May 16, when the city began allowing restaurants and businesses to start returning to normal, have not seen any spikes in COVID-19 cases in the New Orleans area, the coronavirus' long incubation period means the city and the state, which opened for phase one the day before New Orleans, aren't out of the woods yet.
Almost exactly three weeks after New Orleans established a stay at home order, the city reached its peak in cases. Avegno said the current case is similar: it will likely be another week until the spikes begin to pop up if they are going to.
Gov. John Bel Edwards plans to announce on Monday whether the state is ready to enter phase two of reopening. But he has given free rein to local governments to be stricter with their reopening criteria.
New Orleans has consistently been following its own timetable instead of the state's, even when the two match up significantly.
The city established a stay at home order two days before the state did in March. In May, Mayor LaToya Cantrell allowed the limited phase one reopening a day after the state began allowing them.
Cantrell and Avegno emphasized during the press conference that New Orleans would reopen based on "the data, not the date."
The novel coronavirus was first found in Louisiana on March 9. Less than two weeks later, Edwards and Cantrell declared stay at home orders, asking all non-essential workers to stay home and enforcing strict social distancing guidelines.
The orders closed some businesses outright, and in practice closed the doors for almost all of the state's "non-essential" workplaces by encouraging employees to stay home.
As of Friday, Louisiana has over 38,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and 2,600 deaths. Of those, New Orleans accounts for more than 7,000 cases and 500 deaths.
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