City of New Orleans officials say today is the earliest they would make any announcement, as the health department crunches the numbers post-Mardi Gras.
"The health dept. and the mayor continue to closely monitor the numbers and look at the data we got over Mardi Gras," said mayor's office spokesman Beau Tidwell. "I can say anecdotally, what I'm hearing from Dr. Avegno and her team is 'cautiously optimistic.'"
Tidwell says the health department has been looking to see if parades and parties over Mardi Gras caused an increase in new cases, and he says so far, it doesn't appear to be the case.
"But it does look like the measures that we put in place work," Tidwell said. "They credit that largely to the high rate of vaccination we had in Orleans."
New Orleans is the only city in the state to order a vaccine mandate, requiring businesses like restaurants, bars, concert halls, and others to check patrons' vaccine or COVID test status.
