Statement from Gov. Edwards as Louisiana surpasses one million COVID-19 tests

BATON ROUGE – On Wednesday, Louisiana surpassed one million COVID-19 tests of its residents as part of an aggressive push to use testing and contract tracing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. These tests alongside reasonable regulations like mandating mask wearing for people age 8 and older when they are in public, will potentially reduce the spread of the virus.

In Louisiana, 84,131 cases have been confirmed and 3,351 people have died of COVID-19.

Federal surge testing is happening in the East Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Lake Charles regions through the end of the day Saturday, July 18, and Louisianans in these areas who want a test should visit DoINeedACOVID19test.com.

All across the state people can get testing information if they call 211. 

In statement released on Wednesday, Gov. Edwards said: 

“Today, Louisiana surpassed a major testing milestone having now conducted more than one million COVID-19 tests since March. We are a small state and this level of testing would not be possible without federal partners, state agencies and local governments working together with our health care providers. While we know there are still issues related to the availability of testing supplies and some reports of test results being backlogged, I am hopeful that our continued push to test as many Louisianans as we can will result in reducing the spread of COVID-19 in our state. We have lost too many Louisianans to this illness already, and we cannot and will not let our health care system become overwhelmed.”  

“I am proud not only of the people who work day in and day out to bring testing to our people, from our frontline health care heroes to members of our Louisiana National Guard and staff of the Office of Public Health, but also of the many Louisianans who took the step to get a test. We have already surpassed our testing goal from July and have the second highest testing rate of all states since the start of the crisis.” 

“I encourage all Louisianans to continue to wear their masks when they are in public, maintain at least six feet of distance from people who are not in their household, stay home when they are sick and wash their hands frequently. If we put in the work together, we can beat COVID-19 in our state. I am praying for us all.”