Thread by @DavidBegnaud

NEW THREAD: Today, Louisiana’s Governor blasted the Lafayette City Council after its rejected, last week, a mask mandate. @LouisianaGov told @washingtonpost: “It's a basic failure of leadership, you know, & there's a partisan edge
to this that quite frankly,
I don't understand.”

https://twitter.com/davidbegnaud/status/1361367357063651329

Here’s the full response from @LouisianaGov: “let me be clear,
the mask mandate
is enforce in effect
all across the state of Louisiana. The Lafayette city council
doesn't have the authority
to opt out of that mandate...”

“... They took an action,
saying that they weren't going
to enforce it at their level,
and that's regrettable,
it's unfortunate
because that region of our state,
at numerous times
throughout the pandemic,
has actually had some of
the highest positivity rates
and...”

“... case growth
and hospitalizations,
and hospital capacity
has been threatened
in that region of our state
probably more than any other...”

“... It's a basic failure
of leadership, you know,
and there's a partisan edge
to this that quite frankly,
I don't understand...”

“... You know, the mask mandate
was something
that we were encouraged to do
by the Trump White House,
the White House Coronavirus
Task Force,
and every step that I've taken
has been fully consistent
with what they were
asking us to do...”

“... and now, I'm obviously looking
to the Biden Administration
and to the CDC on these issues
as well as talking to locals,
our own Office of Public Health,
for example,
and physicians all across
the state of Louisiana...”

“... So, it's regrettable, but the
mask mandate remains in effect.
We're going to continue to
enforce it at the state level,
and it is
the most effective tool
we have to reduce bread
and save lives,
and how this has taken
an air of partisanship,
I will never,
ever understand...”

“...That virus doesn't know
and doesn't care
whether someone is a Republican
or a Democrat,
and so we shouldn't be playing
these partisan games
as we respond
to this pandemic.” Source: closedcaptions.posttv.com/2021/02/19/766…

Lafayette mayor president @JoshGuilloryUSA refuses to enforce the state mandate. The Lafayette city Council said they voted no on the mandate, in part, because they knew Guillory wouldn’t enforce.

The state isn’t enforcing @LouisianaGov’s mandate, either, when complaints are filed. According to the state fire marshal, 3,669 masking complaints were filed as of last week; 0 enforcement was taken. Quote from fire marshals office: “We go based on the @LouisianaGov’s directive”