New Orleans leaders today announce changes to the city's COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The mayor is expected to ease up on some of them.
Louisiana went to Phase 3 last week, and New Orleans Mayor's Office spokesman Beau Tidwell says the city will do something similar today, but he cautions it won't look the same:
"The modified phase 3...I would anticipate it not being in complete one-to-one perfect synchronicity with the state," said Tidwell. "Right now, all the numbers are moving in the right direction and we do anticipate an easing of the guidelines."
"New Orleans was hit tremendously hard," Tidwell said. "We were an epicenter for it. Our communities were particularly vulnerable to it, and we've seen 768 deaths."
He says that's also why the city's modified phase three won't look exactly like the state's, and says the dramatically lower rates of COVID-19 cases are proof it works.
"The fact that our positivity rate is so low is not an accident," said Tidwell. "That is down to the hard work that our residents and businesses have done to observe the guidelines that have been put in place."
Listen to the mayor's announcement live on WWL around 11 a.m.
