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As coronavirus cases climb in the region and state, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is considering requiring masks or implementing other rules in the city to slow the spread of the variant. highly transmissible delta.
At a press conference on Tuesday, the mayor’s director of communications Beau Tidwell said “all options are on the table” and that Cantrell and the city’s director of health, Dr Jennifer Avegno, will announce any change wednesday.
“We are looking at possible additional mitigation measures that may become necessary. You’ll find out more about that tomorrow, ”Tidwell said. He declined to provide further details on what the new COVID rules might look like, but said “masking is definitely something they are looking into.”
“It’s a strong possibility,” he said.
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The warning about a return to COVID rules comes amid rising cases and hospitalizations. The Louisiana Department of Health reported on Tuesday that there were 98 new cases of coronavirus in the parish of Orleans, pushing the 7-day average of new daily cases above 100 for the first time since early February , before vaccines became widely available.
Statewide numbers are also jumping. Louisiana coronavirus hospitalizations rose from 68 Tuesday to 779. Deaths from the virus have also started to rise statewide, although New Orleans has yet to see a comparable increase.
Cases are increasing in other parishes in the New Orleans metro area. Jefferson Parish records an average of 115 new cases per day. St. Tammany Parish records an average of 116 new cases per day, which is lower than the average of 405 daily new cases the parish saw in January, but higher than the surge last summer when trade restrictions and mask warrants were in place.
St. Tammany Parish officials currently have no plans to reinstate restrictions, including masks or social distancing, said Michael Vinsanau, spokesperson for Parish President Mike Cooper, although he noted that plans could change. A spokeswoman for Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said on Tuesday that the parish currently has no plans to reactivate restrictions and plans to follow directions from the state’s health department.
Public health officials attributed the growing wave of infections to the delta variant, which spreads more easily than previous COVID strains, and the surprising lack of vaccinations in the state outside of New Orleans.
Less than 40% of Louisiana residents received their first dose of the vaccine, a rate that ranks among the last of the US states. New Orleans is above the average U.S. vaccination rate, with 51% of residents completing their rounds of immunizations, but it’s still not at a level that would keep the virus at bay, in especially with the delta which is spreading widely in the region.
“This rapid spread of the delta variant is a source of great concern. It potentially puts at risk not only the progress we have made, but all the exciting things we look forward to this fall,” Tidwell said. “These things are potentially threatened by this spread, which is why it is absolutely essential that we do everything possible to bring it under control.”
Tourists have been flocking to the city in recent weeks, and hotels and restaurants are eagerly awaiting a series of events scheduled for October, including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. While some business owners have warned that restrictions and mask warrants will make people reluctant to return, Cantrell and public health officials have long argued that the threat of catching COVID if the virus rages would also keep tourists away. .
Last spring, Cantrell imposed closures and other restrictions earlier than other Louisiana executives, and throughout the pandemic, she has been more cautious than Governor John Bel Edwards in reopening businesses and return of tourists. Her decisions to move more slowly, she said, were prompted by the brutal toll New Orleans suffered at the start of the pandemic. In April 2020, the city’s death rate was at one point the highest in the United States
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The city’s mask warrant was lifted on May 14, a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines that vaccinated people no longer need to wear face covers in most areas. indoor and outdoor environments.
At the time, the mayor said the move was a reward for residents who had had “civic trust” over the previous year by following social distancing and mask guidelines as well as getting vaccinated. .
But the loosening of the rules also came with a warning to those who had been slow to get shot. Avegno told unvaccinated New Orleans residents that it is now their responsibility to protect themselves if they refuse to receive a jab.
“If you are still not vaccinated, the burden of risk falls on you,” Avegno said.
Dr Susan Hassig, an epidemiologist at Tulane University’s School of Public Health, said she expects the mayor to renew the city’s indoor mask mandate tomorrow as it is “the most logical step at the moment”. Other cities, including Los Angeles, have reinstated warrants to combat the increase in the number of cases in recent days.
“It would be like LA did, masking for everyone because you really want unvaccinated people to mask themselves, but it’s just too difficult to validate vaccination status in any way,” he said. said Hassig. “It’s kind of like what we used to have in school, group punishments, because some people just can’t follow the rules.
“Because even now people who are not vaccinated should mask themselves, but they are not,” she said.
In other areas of Louisiana, where fewer people have chosen to be vaccinated, hospital officials have started warning against filling beds.
The Notre-Dame-du-Lac Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, the state’s largest hospital, admitted its largest group of coronavirus patients since January on Saturday. Dr Catherine O’Neal, the hospital’s chief medical officer, warned that more flare-ups – and deaths – were waiting unless more people were vaccinated.
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