New Orleans health officials are already learning some interesting facts from their survey of people in the crowd at the Krewe of Boo parade.
Related
More than 1,200 people participated in the survey conducted by employees and volunteers with the city's health department. New Orleans Mayor's Office spokesman Beau Tidwell says one thing they learned is that it seems people who like parades also are likely to be vaccinated.
"Ninety-three percent of the folks that they surveyed were vaccinated," said Tidwell. And a good portion of them were visitors.
"More than half of them were from out-of-town," Tidwell also pointed out, "which says there's visitors coming from elsewhere to celebrate here, but they're coming vaccinate. They're coming to celebrate safely. That's exactly what we wanted to see, and it's encouraging news."
Health officials gathered 60 samples on-site for PCR coronavirus testing, and distributed around 1,000 home-test kits. The goal was to conduct around a thousand surveys and distribute a thousand tests.
"This event was largely a big success from the city's perspective," said Tidwell. "The health department's going to continue to monitor that data. Obviously, two, three weeks out from now, we'll have a better sense of what actually happened in terms of COVID rates, and we'll move from their."
Related
What they learn will help the city decide how to handle having Mardi Gras parades in 2022.