Mayor LaToya Cantrell today announced New Orleans is ready to start reopening businesses this weekend.
"We will unveil a comprehensive guidance or guidelines from the city regarding the phased reopening that will commence beginning May the 16th," Cantrell said.
Cantrell said the city's rules for reopening may be more strict that what the state announces. Details on that, she said, will come tomorrow (Tuesday).
At the mayor's news conference, New Orleans Health Director Dr. Jennifer Avegno presented data showing dramatic drops in COVID-19 infections in the city.
She says they have seen four weeks of steady drops in coronavirus case numbers.
"It's at lease 28 days of a sustained decline."
Avegno says they set a goal of seeing less than 50 cases per day.
"In the general population, right now from our mobile testing, about three percent of people are coming up positive," Dr. Avegno reported. "That's a far cry from earlier when it was about 20%."
She insisted that people at high risk will have to continue to remain home and protect themselves.
While the city is not yet releasing specifics, Avegno did say some businesses will be allowed to reopen at 25 percent capacity starting Saturday.
- Allowing some individuals who cannot work remotely to get back to work while protecting them & the public from harm
- Keeping elderly & high risk individuals at home and out of harm’s way (will↓deaths & hospitalizations)
- Avoiding reopening of known locations with high superspreader potential: venues with high public traffic difficult to control or clean, festivals, large group settings
She made it clear, however, that openings will not include what she called "super-spreader" gatherings like weddings and funerals.
