Louisiana can move to phase two of its reopening on Friday, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Monday.
However, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said that Orleans Parish will continue to stay in phase one.
“As we have said throughout this pandemic: we are watching the data, not the date. We don’t yet have sufficient data to authorize opening up further at this point,” Cantrell said in a statement. “We look forward to the return of visitors — but for that to happen, we have to be able to ensure New Orleans is the safest city to come to. That means being deliberate, and waiting until we have two to three weeks of additional data and the full confidence of our public health officials that restrictions can be further eased in a safe way.”
For the rest of the state, under phase two, bars as well as spas will be able to reopen and restaurants and businesses that have been operating at 25% capacity, will be able to move to a 50% occupancy starting Friday.
“We still have work to do, we still have restrictions that have to be in place and as I said many times, we’re not going to be back to normal but we are moving in the right direction,” Edwards told reporters in Baton Rouge.