State restricts restaurants to take-out, closes bars, limits crowds to 50

In an effort to stem the community transmission of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards on Monday (March 16) issued an order limiting the size of mass gatherings in the state to fewer than 50 people; restricting all restaurants to delivery, take-out and drive-through only; and temporarily closing bars, casinos and movie theaters.

The restrictions are to go into effect at midnight Monday night and will last until at least April 13, although they could be extended.

The move comes a day after the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged organizers of mass gatherings – including conferences, festivals, parades, concerts, sporting events, weddings and other such assemblies – to reconsider their plans in deference to the COVID-19 outbreak.  

It also comes three days after Edwards shuttered K-12 public schools statewide and announced the postponement of the state’s presidential primaries.

In making his Monday announcement, Edwards allowed that such steps are “aggressive,” but, he said, they are necessary to contain the disease.

“These limitations were difficult to make, but they are necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19, protect the health of Louisianans and flatten the curve,” Edwards said.

He continued: “What we’re learning is that it can take two weeks for symptoms to appear. We believe we are still unearthing community spread that’s been around for the past several weeks, which means it is a statewide problem that requires statewide solutions.”

As of Monday morning, St. Tammany Health System was treating one patient who had tested positive for COVID-19. Statewide, 132 people had tested positive and two had died, both residents of Orleans Parish.

Image via CDC