Tardy Gras will not happen as the parish deals with surging COVID cases.
Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng tells WWL’s Tommy Tucker that she will not issue permits for Tardy Gras as the parish’s hospitals struggle to handle a fourth COVID-19 surge in the parish.
“Where we are right now with COVID, there is no room to be talking about parades,” President Sheng told Tommy Tucker. “And I know we need that emotionally, we want that celebration, but it is just not appropriate to be talking about a parade in the same conversation that we are talking about hospitals overflowing.”
“I will not issue a permit for our departments,” said Sheng. “I mean, this is the numbers, where we are now we cannot talk about a parade now.”
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Sheng says she doesn’t see a parade happening this year in Jefferson Parish.
“I know with the krewes, they can’t have a parade late in the year without jeopardizing next year,” said Sheng
“I don’t imagine that we are immediately drop off this surge and that the hospitals will clear by those dates.”
When it comes to Carnival parades elsewhere, Mardi Gras Guide publisher Arhtur Hardy tells WWL that it is too soon to say if krewes will cancel their parades.
“Everyone is kind of quiet right now because we don’t know anything,” said Hardy. “Fat Tuesday is March 1st, we are in August, so many things can happen but I can tell you this, nobody has said, uh oh, we are in trouble lets pull back, nobody has said that.”
Hardy adds, “What has happened [COVID] is a game-changer, but not on a permanent basis, it is not like they are thinking we got to cancel.”