New Orleans highlights its efforts to fight COVID-19 on the one year anniversary of the pandemic in Louisiana.
In a statement acknowledging the one year anniversary, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell calls March 9, the start of ‘a tragic and difficult year’ where 719 New Orleanians lost their lives to the pandemic.
You can read Mayor Cantrell’s full statement below:
Today, we mark the anniversary of the first presumptive positive case of COVID-19 here in the City of New Orleans.
This was the start of a tragic and difficult year for us, where we lost 719 of our fellow New Orleanians to this terrible virus. Let us lift up their families in prayer today.
Over this past year, our city has worked tirelessly to follow the science surrounding this virus to keep our people as safe as possible.
We were first declared a COVID-19 hotspot in late March 2020 as we uncovered the fact that the virus had spread uncontrolled through our city.
Thanks to your sacrifices and cooperation, our COVID-19 positivity rate now stands at 0.9%, far below the national rate of 6.0%.
I encourage everyone to continue monitoring our city’s COVID-19 dashboard: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/746f03e88d204a2b82a7b958ea744bba/
And please, get vaccinated as soon as you are able. Don't hesitate. We are leading the state in vaccine distributions and need to keep it up.
If you get vaccinated, life in New Orleans can get back to the unique dream we all share, and as always we will find creative ways to remember those we lost.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell
