New Orleans is reinstating their indoor mask mandate beginning Wednesday due to the rapid increase in COVID cases causing disruptions in schools and overwhelming hospitals.
“The city of New Orleans is reinstating the indoor mask mandate at all indoor spaces including schools effective tomorrow and a 6 A.M. will remain in place until further notice,” New Orleans Department of Health Director Dr. Jennifer Avegno said.
Avegno said the daily average of new COVID cases in New Orleans is 12,033, nearly three times the previous record of April 2020 and that does not reflect positive home tests for COVID.
“In three weeks hospitalizations have risen statewide by a factor of seven. That is a faster rise than in the Delta surge. I want to make it very clear as how quickly hospitalizations are rising,” Avegno said.
City leaders fear if the mandate is not put in place more cases will cause businesses to close due to staffing shortages and keep children out of the classroom. The mandate comes on the heels of the city kicking off carnival season and Avegno urges the public to take mitigation seriously.
“We all want to throw open the doors of the city to thousands of visitors to dance in the streets, but if that’s to be the case, we have to double down like never before on the mitigation measures that work and that’s vaccinations, masks, and tests,” Avegno said.
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