Effective 5:30 pm Monday, March 23, the “Stay at Home” Executive Order issued by Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards went into effect. The purpose of the order is to help save lives. I am urging the people of Monroe to adhere to the Governor’s directives. Some of you may be asking ‘what exactly does that mean’?

Do not gather in groups of 10 or more. Do not get closer than six feet away from others when you go out. Do not go visit loved ones in the hospital, nursing home, or residential care facility. Do not go visit friends & family if there is no urgent need. Do not go to work unless you are providing essential services. What can you do? You can go to the grocery story or pharmacy. You can go to medical appointments after checking with your healthcare provider first. You can go to restaurants for take-out or drive-thru orders. You can care for a family member or friend. You can go outside (just keep six feet between you and others).

You can call 211 for important information about updates from the Louisiana Department of Health, inquire about Disaster SNAP benefits and more. You can visit our City of Monroe website http://www.monroe.la.us and click on our COVID-19 page for updates about city services and connections to valuable information and resources. You may be interested in learning about unemployment benefits or resources available for small businesses. You may see something that someone else needs to know.

To protect our employees and the public, we have closed multiple city facilities (civic center, zoo, community centers, and museum) and limited access to employees only at other city facilities. For your personal safety, I am encouraging the public to use online, phone, and drive-thru options to access city personnel and services. Once again, to keep you updated on our response to the Coronavirus, the City of Monroe created this webpage filled with information and resources: http://www.monroela.us/coronavirus. Visit the site and share it with others.

As I said to you all last week…this situation is unusual, but not impossible! God has blessed us to have experts to give us best practices to follow. Officials at the federal, state, and local levels are working together to guide the public as best we can. We ask that everyone remains patient and trust that we will get through this together. By working together, we are making a difference. Monroe is one city, with one future!