New Orleans mayor issues ‘indoor mask advisory’ as COVID-19 cases surge

Masks will be advised indoors in New Orleans under new rules announced by Mayor LaToya Cantrell on Wednesday, as public-health officials warned about surging coronavirus cases and the threat that the highly-transmissible delta variant poses to unvaccinated residents.

During a news conference Wednesday, Cantrell and city health department director Dr. Jennifer Avegno said the step was aimed at slowing the surge and at avoiding more stringent measures, like the near-total lockdowns put in place at the start of the pandemic last year.

“The delta variant is alive and very much well in the city of New Orleans,” Cantrell said. “We have to move towards an indoor mask advisory... This is the most immediate thing, and the most tangible thing we can do to slow the spread.”

Rising coronavirus infections prompted the move. On Wednesday, the Louisiana Department of Health reported that COVID hospitalizations in the state rose to 844 patients, the highest level since mid-February. An additional 3,264 cases were added to the tally, the largest single-day increase since the state was in the grip of a deadly winter COVID wave.

Cases and hospitalizations are also rising in Orleans Parish. The city added 185 new confirmed cases Wednesday, bringing the seven-day average daily case increase to 115; a month ago, the city was averaging less than 10 new cases per day.

Cantrell lifted the city’s mask mandate in May and called it a reward for the “civic trust” that residents had displayed in adhering to restrictions and getting vaccinated. Unvaccinated people were still required to wear a mask when in public, though few people out and about in the city in recent weeks have had their face covered, suggesting that people with and without the protection of the vaccines had ended the practice.

The rate of New Orleans vaccinations has mostly kept pace with the rest of the U.S., but it has still slowed considerably in recent weeks and the city is far from levels that would prevent the coronavirus from spreading in the city.

Read more at Nola.com