New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said she would have canceled Mardi Gras if she knew how extensive the coronavirus was in the community at the time, and said the fate of next Mardi Gras may be in question.
Cantrell said in an interview with The Washington Post that information about the disease's spread, and the impact to the city's bottom line will guide those decisions.
"It will give me great pause right now, before I commit to saying that we're moving forward with Mardi Gras 2021," Cantrell said.
"It's something that we have to think about. It's something that we have put on the table," she said in the interview. "The data has to dictate any dates."
The mayor also told the Post that while the city's stay-home order is currently set to expire May 15, she said it could be extended if the data indicates it needs to be extended.
The mayor's portion of the interview begins around 21 minutes in to the video below. Her comments on Mardi Gras are around the 25 minute mark.
Watch as Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell join The Washington Post to discuss how they're working to stop the spread of the coronavirus in their cities. https://t.co/YcIbUtDNot
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) April 28, 2020
