BATON ROUGE – Governor John Bel Edwards says there is more COVID-19 in Louisiana than ever before.

The Louisiana Department of Health reporting the highest single-day increase of confirmed cases.

Right now, Edwards will not add any new restrictions. He maintains we cannot enforce our way out of this, but warns behavior must change to get the state’s case count under control.

As numbers continue to surge, Edwards is fed up with people not following mitigation measures like wearing a mask.

“Quite frankly, they’re not that damn onerus, put a mask on,” Edwards said.

He believes people owe it to their families and healthcare workers, even if they’re not worried about their own protection from the virus.

“This is the issue for me as Governor right now. The status quo is unacceptable and if I’m unable to articulate that to the people of Louisiana sufficiently, I apologize if my command of the English language is not good enough to communicate that sufficiently. We have to do better,” Edwards said.

While there is hope that vaccines will slow the spread, Doctor Joseph Kanter said at this point, not enough people have been innoculated.

“The vaccine work is important and essential, but right now, in order to stop having to report 40, 50, 60 lives a day, that’s mitigation measures,” Dr. Kanter said.

Louisiana remains on a trajectory of increased cases and hospitalizations. The big concern is the impact is still unknown from the holidays.

“We’re not iminent to resorting to crisis care, but clearly if we stay on this path, that will happen,” Edwards said.

The Governor’s current proclamation expires a week from today. Ultimately, Edwards says people need to mask up and continue doing what data shows works.