Is it too soon to open for business? This model says yes.

Everyone is ready for life to return to “normal” or whatever that will realistically look like post-COVID-19. People are ready to leave their homes and have businesses open again. More than 97 percent of our country is currently under some form of a stay-at-home order.

The President released guidelines that suggest some state will be ready to reopen as soon as May 1. Neighboring state Mississippi’s Governor Tate Reeves is allowing their order, which went into place on April 3, to expire on Monday, April 27. That means that several retail businesses will be allowed to reopen, but they must limit customers in their stores at one time to no greater than 50 percent of their store capacity.

Georgia’s governor Brian Kemp started allowing businesses to open back up on April 24. Gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios, barbers, hair and nail salons, estheticians and massage therapists were able to reopen with certain rules. Theaters and restaurants can reopen April 27, with social distancing and screening employees for illness.

So what about Louisiana?

The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has been tracking data since mid-March. Their models are the ones currently being used by the White House. The most recent release on April 22 suggested that the earliest date Louisiana should consider lifting stay-at-home order was May 18 – May 24.

According to their website,”these estimates assume that when social distancing policies will be eased, such actions will occur in conjunction with public health containment strategies. Such measures include widespread testing, contact tracing, and isolation of new cases to minimize the risk of resurgence while maintaining at least some social distancing policies to reduce the risk of large-scale transmission (e.g., bans on mass gatherings).”

(A detailed explanation of how they determined their dates can be found here.)

Governor John Bel Edwards has spoken at length on the increased need for individuals to get tested. “As we move forward and open up economy, what we do will be informed by the testing that we do and the ability to contact trace – to go back and make sure that everyone who came into contact with someone who subsequently tested positive, during that time when that individual would have been expected to be contagious. If we’re not getting tested, we don’t have a way to do contact tracing. If you have symptoms, get tested,” said Edwards in an April 22 conference.

Here in the Houma-Thibodaux area, officials will be opening a drive-through self-testing site this week to assist with the need for more testing to be readily available.

Edwards has also implemented the “Mask Up Louisiana” initiative. Locally, both Terrebonne and Lafourche have accepted this initiative, hosting mask giveaways for their residents, implying that the wearing of masks might become part of our every day life.

“We need you wearing a mask in public and when you come into contact with people,” shared Edwards. “I say this because everybody needs to start preparing. Make sure you and everyone in your family has one. You can buy them, you can make them.”

Edwards is expected to announce early this week how the state might begin to re-open the economy as we strive to meet benchmarks of the White House guidance. Those involve the growth in cases, hospitalizations and the number of people reported with certain symptoms within a 14-day period.