BATON ROUGE - Governor John Bel Edwards announced Friday the state is taking steps to ease rules restricting nursing home visits in Louisiana.

The state says it is following guidance issued by the federal government Thursday and allowing nursing homes in some parishes to allow visitation with proper social distancing. The new rules will allow indoor visits at nursing homes in parishes with "no more than 10 percent test positivity and without any new onset of COVID cases in the last 14 days."

According to the Louisiana Department of Health, East Baton Rouge and several neighboring parishes have slipped below 10-percent positivity in recent weeks.

Nursing homes allowing visits are recommended to limit the number of visitors allowed inside at one time, and they must be screened for coronavirus symptoms. 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services imposed restrictions on nursing home visitations in March in an effort to control coronavirus outbreaks.