Governor John Bel Edwards announced Monday that he will extend the deadline for the statewide “Stay at Home” order by three weeks, keeping the directive in effect until Thursday, April 30. The extension of the order is in line with actions undertaken by the Trump Administration to keep nationwide social distancing guidelines in place until the end of April. According to Governor Edwards, his office will issue an amended proclamation later in the week.

Under the order, Louisianans are required to STAY HOME except to obtain food, medicine, medical care, or visit family, engage in certain safe outdoor activities, or go to work in an “essential” industry sector. 

The initial “Stay at Home” order was set to expire April 13th. Edwards said during a press conference Monday he will extend them until at least two weeks beyond that, and the governor has repeatedly hinted they could be in place well into May unless the state makes headway “flattening the curve,” or slowing the spread of coronavirus to avoid overwhelming health systems.

“We still have the same imperatives that we’ve been working on the past few weeks and that is we have to continue to flatten the curve, slow the spread of this disease so that more people than necessary don’t seek medical care all at the same time,” Edwards said. “At the same time we have to continue to surge our medical capacity.”