BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Gov. John Bel Edwards has declared Sunday in Louisiana as a “day of prayer and remembrance” for the more than 9,000 people who have died from COVID-19 since the outbreak began a year ago.
Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of the first COVID-19 death in Louisiana.
The health department has confirmed 9,122 people have died in the state from COVID-19.
Hundreds of additional deaths are suspected from the disease caused by the coronavirus.
More deaths continue to be announced daily.
But public health officials hope wider availability to coronavirus vaccines will stem the number of new deaths.