NEW ORLEANS (AP) - New Orleans’ mayor is shutting down the city’s bars because of rising coronavirus numbers, and is also forbidding restaurants to sell alcoholic drinks to go.
“The crowds just grow and grow and grow,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell said at a livestreamed news conference Friday.
“Even when we were allowing for takeout alcohol, some of the lines were so long they would become a gathering in themselves. And no mask-wearing and the like,” she said.
The city is also getting many complaints about large parties of maskless people outside houses, said Jennifer Avegno, head of the city’s health department,
Cantrell warned short-term rental owners that big parties at their properties could cost their licenses. “I’m not playing around,” she said.
The rule against all take-out sales of alcoholic drinks in a city where go-cups have long been a barroom feature takes effect at 6 a.m. Saturday.
Her orders came as the Louisiana Department of Health reported more than 2,000 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 103,734. New Orleans’ total rose by 103, to 9,752.
Cantrell had restricted bars and restaurants to table service since July 11. She said the city is seeing daily increases about double its threshold of 50 a day for more relaxed rules. The percentage of positive tests in New Orleans has risen from 3% to 6%, she said.
The city needs to change to let students return to classes, she said. The mayor noted that crowds haven’t been limited to Bourbon Street and the French Quarter. Rather, she said, photos and video of crowds there encourage people citywide “to just go do the same thing. And they do and they have.”
Cantrell said she thought at first that early closing hours might help, but photos and video showed crowds “in broad daylight.”
Winston Reid, the city’s head of code enforcement, urged people to call 311 if they see party buses, which are illegal in the city, or anything that “may lead to oversize congregating.”
“We implore you to call 311,” he said.
Cantrell acknowledged that the number is getting so many calls that some people may have trouble getting through. The city has hired additional workers for the dispatch center where those lines are located and is looking for more, she said, noting that people also can email the center.
Cantrell emphasized that schoolchildren were a major motive for the restrictions. The city’s school board announced Tuesday that the school year will start online, aiming to start in-person classes after Labor Day.
“We are really focused on getting our kids back into the classroom,” Cantrell said.
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