Louisiana reinstates indoor mask mandate, including in schools, as Covid-19 surges

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana is reenacting a statewide mask mandate for both vaccinated and unvaccinated residents across all indoor locations, including schools and colleges. Gov. John Bel Edwards’ announcement Monday came as the state struggles with a fast-growing fourth surge of Covid-19 driven by the delta variant. The Democratic governor’s mandate takes effect on Wednesday. It will apply to anyone age 5 and older who enters a business, school, church or other inside location. Louisiana has one of the lowest coronavirus vaccination rates in the nation and is seeing one of the country’s worst Covid-19 spikes per capita. Edwards’ order will last until Sept. 1, but could be extended.