BATON ROUGE, La (BRPROUD) — Mayor Sharon Weston-Broome released a statement just before New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell is expected to implement a city-wide proof of COVID-19 vaccine or COVID-19 negative test as requirement to enter an establishment.

Here is the full statement:

“City leaders across the nation, including me, are working to mitigate COVID-19 in our communities. Our first goal is increase vaccinations, thus decreasing hospitalizations and deaths. We have returned to a mask mandate and events are being cancelled and rescheduled throughout our city. Our path has always been to seek counsel and guidance from our medical community who are partners in this battle, usually on a weekly basis. We are considering a potential vaccine/testing policy for city-parish employees as the FDA is expected to fully approve the Pfizer vaccine in the near the future. While I am not adverse to any effective path forward to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and its variants, I have no immediate plans to implement a city-wide vaccine mandate for private entities. The plan needed to enforce such a mandate could possibly minimize the time and resources dedicate to community vaccinations. Yet, I wholeheartedly support individual business who feel it necessary to pursue this route on their own.”