BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana COVID Health Equity Task Force met for a final time via Zoom on Friday.

First appointed by Governor John Bel Edwards in April 2020, the purpose of the task force was to promote equal distribution of access to quality healthcare. The esteemed group of professionals focused primarily on underserved communities.

Over the last two years, the team of individuals studied how some communities were disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The task force provided access to vaccines and testing within these communities, among other potentially life-saving duties.

Now that COVID hospitalizations are at a record low, the task force is halting their efforts for the time being while recognizing that the pandemic is still active. They remain on standby in case another surge or variant arises.