Despite the rising COVID numbers, New Orleans spokesperson Beau Tidwell says the city of New Orleans is not yet ready to cancel or reschedule the upcoming fall music events.
“It is something we have to watch very closely, however, given the numbers we are seeing right now, it is cause for concern,” said Tidwell.
Tidwell openly thanked local venue and restaurant owners for requiring proof of vaccination before entering.
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“We think that is the right move and we want to see more businesses embrace it,” said Tidwell.
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Tidwell also says city officials are pleading for everyone to get vaccinated so that the city can get back to normal.
“It is difficult to overstate the seriousness or the degree of the strain that is currently on our healthcare system, our healthcare workers, and our first responders,” said Tidwell stressed at the city’s weekly press conference.
He says the numbers keep sliding in the wrong direction. The positivity rate in Orleans parish is now over ten percent. For much of the year the city’s COVID positivity rate was around 1.5% with a threshold limit of 5%.
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In a one-week span Tidwell says, the daily COVID case count jumped from 209 to 290 cases a day and 814 deaths in Orleans Parish.
“This is killing children,” said Tidwell. “Unlike in the first wave of the pandemic when the initial COVID outbreak largely seemed to spare children, that is not the case with the Delta Variant.”
The increase in COVID numbers has put a tremendous strain on the city’s Emergency Medical Services, which is why the city now commissioned outside EMS company Acadian Ambulances to help alleviate that stress.