According to the Telegraph , New Orleans has become one of the Covid-19 hot spots in the US, suspected to be due to the annual traditional festival called Mardi Gras held in February.
The city of Louisiana currently has about 1,000 Covid-19 cases and according to a scientific study, New Orleans recorded the highest increase in the number of people infected with corona virus in the world within 2 weeks after the first case was detected.
Observers are doubting the famous Mardi Gras festival is the cause of the outbreak. The event held in February attracted 1.4 million participants.
According to the Telegraph , the festival is described as the "perfect storm" for the spread of Covid-19 with the streets filled with people. They together toast, parade, dance and perform traditional rituals.
While New York is considered the largest epidemic area in the US, cities such as Detroit, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles are now seeing Covid-19 cases soaring. Currently the US has become the country with the latest cases of corona virus worldwide with more than 100,000 cases.
New Orleans officials admitted at the time that they were not worried about the epidemic, even though Covid-19 then infected tens of thousands of people globally and the United States had several dozen cases. The city’s health officer then believed the flu was "much more dangerous than the corona virus", according to the Washington Post.
13 days later, on March 9, Louisiana recorded the first Covid-19 case. Outbreaks have begun to flare up in some nursing homes. State outbreaks are not very much linked, which means that widespread community infections were then thought to have occurred.
The photo shows Mardi Gras attracting a lot of participants (Image: UPI)
At that time, Louisiana officials were just beginning to think about the causes and the Madis Gras festival is said to have "plagued" the plague not only in New Orleans, Louisiana but possibly the United States.
“We have visitors from all over the world. The virus may have spread at the time and people didn’t realize it, ”former Louisiana health official Rebekah Gee said.
In New Orleans, figures recorded on March 25 showed that the city’s number of Covid-19 cases increased by 30% in just 24 hours.
On March 26, Louisiana had 2,305 Covid-19 cases and 83 deaths, and the New Orleans area accounted for two-thirds of the infected and killed.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the cancellation of Mardi Gras has never been considered. She said federal agencies involved in the festival’s organizing committee - including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security - did not issue any warnings about Covid-19. Federal officials pay more attention to the plot of terrorist attacks at the time.
In February, American life was not much disturbed by the epidemic. People are still crowded in airports. The NBA professional basketball tournament has not yet stopped, while Disney World park is still open.
Cantrell said that a few weeks later, she canceled St. Patrick’s Day parade and the move was fiercely criticized by some. Despite the ban, residents still packed bars in the French Quarter for fun.
Professor Gary Wagner of the University of Louisiana said the virus had been spread at Mardi Gras, turning the festival into a "super-infectious" event.
Bourbon Street in New Orleans is empty as the outbreak begins (Image: Reuters)
