BATON ROUGE - Governor John Bel Edwards said its still too early for him to say whether Louisiana will have school athletics in the fall as the state continues a worrying trend of climbing virus cases. 

The governor said Wednesday that the coronavirus is arguably more widespread in the state than it has ever been and implored residents to wear masks and follow guidelines. When asked how the spike in cases may impact sports in the fall, Edwards said he it still isn't the time to make a final decision.

.@LouisianaGov says he doesn’t feel like a final decision should be made yet on fall sports (as well as school year) in response to my question about Sen. Cleo Fields’ request to BESE to cancel K-12 sports for fall

— Johnston von Springer (@johnstonvon) July 8, 2020

The comments come as the state faces mounting pressure to cancel school athletics, including an appeal from Senator Cleo Fields asking state officials to cancel all K-12 sports.

Despite the worrying number of new cases reported in recent weeks, the governor says he is not planning a statewide mask mandate, nor any other restrictions at this time. 

You can read more on the latest coronavirus case data here.