To Fight COVID New Orleans Is Shutting Down All Bars During Mardi Gras
NEW ORLEANS (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — The City of New Orleans is taking extreme measures to try and slow the spread of coronavirus. Next week The Big Easy will shut down all bars, even for takeout service, through Mardi Gras weekend — usually among their busiest time of year.
Many bars already were closed to indoor service. Mayor LaToya Cantrell's Friday announcement means they won't be able to sell drinks to go — a popular option year-round and especially during Mardi Gras. And, she said the city is expanding the closure order to include bars that have "conditional" food permits that allowed them to operate as restaurants during various pandemic shutdowns.
Stepped up crowd control begins this weekend, Cantrell said. The bar shutdown begins next Friday, February and runs through Mardi Gras — also known as Fat Tuesday — on February 16.
Cantrell and other city officials at Friday's news conference said businesses that violate the rules face on-the-spot shutdowns and loss of licenses.
And they warned visitors to the city during what is one of the biggest tourism times of the year to adhere to safety precautions.
"If by chance you have an aversion to wearing a mask, stay where you're at," said City Council member Jay Banks, who said he knows 23 people who have died of COVID-19. "if your expectation is the Mardi Gras of the past, don't waste your money."
The city's famous parades, which would ordinarily begin rolling this weekend, had already been cancelled.
Cantrell also announced restrictions on pedestrian and automobile traffic on Bourbon Street and other streets in the French Quarter that are usually bustling with shoulder-to-shoulder crowds during the Mardi Gras weekend. And she said fences will be erected along a street corridor outside the Quarter where crowds often gather on Fat Tuesday.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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