VP Pence plans to visit Baton Rouge Tuesday
Vice President Mike Pence, right, Seema Verma, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, center, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, deliver personal protective equipment to a nursing home Wednesday, May 20, 2020, in Orlando, Fla.
(The Center Square) – Vice President Mike Pence plans to be in Baton Rouge Tuesday to meet with Gov. John Bel Edwards and state higher education officials.
Pence, who leads the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, will discuss efforts to contain COVID-19 with Edwards and state health care officials, according to a White House statement.
Pence also plans to participate in a discussion with Edwards and higher education leaders at LSU’s Tiger Stadium about fall reopening plans and university sports programs, the statement says.
Louisiana, particularly the New Orleans area, was one of the early hotspots for the pandemic before mitigation methods helped to flatten the infection curve. Since loosening some of its business restrictions, cases and hospitalizations are rising again, and the disease has spread more evenly across the state.
On Friday, state officials reported more than 2,600 new COVID-19 cases, one of the biggest single-day increases since the pandemic began.
The news also comes following the Ivy League’s anouncement that it has canceled fall sports, while other conferences plan to reduce their schedules to intra-conference games only or are discussing doing so. Limiting attendance at games also has been discussed.
The New Orleans Saints on Friday offered to let season ticket holders opt out of their 2020 tickets, in preparation for the possibility of holding a season with reduced fan capacity.
