New Orleans closes bars, again, and bans go to restaurants amid rebound of coronavirus | Coronavirus

For the second time since the coronavirus pandemic began, bars in New Orleans will be closed entirely under a new order from Mayor LaToya Cantrell with the goal of reversing a surge in new cases in the city that has officials preparing for further pressure. on hospital resources.

The new order, which takes effect on Saturday morning, will ban the sale of go-cups in bars and restaurants, removing a staple from the city’s nightlife. Combined with state regulations that prohibit bars from serving customers on their premises, that amounts to a complete closure of the city’s watering holes and will add tension to restaurants that had been using alcohol sales to help limp during the pandemic.

Cantrell, speaking at a press conference Friday afternoon with other city officials, said the new restrictions are particularly directed at Bourbon Street and other areas of the city where alcohol-fueled gatherings “have gotten out of control. ” Authorities have blamed that for an increase in COVID-19 cases, though New Orleans has fared better through the latest outbreak than many other places in the state.

“The restrictions will continue until we move to a better health position in the city of New Orleans,” Cantrell said.

The concern among officials was less about the actual process of buying alcohol: after all, food and takeaway services have become a common way to minimize contact and risk of infection. Instead, officials suggested the concern was large gatherings where alcohol was consumed.

That includes Bourbon Street, which has recently seen a steady stream of revelers, fueled by take-out drinks sold at some bars. While they are not the overwhelming crowds that would be seen in typical times, there have been far more people gathered than allowed by city rules.

Cantrell also criticized parties and other gatherings that are already illegal under existing pandemic rules that limit indoor gatherings to 25 people and outdoor events to 50. These include the return of party buses, none of which Cantrell He said they have permission to operate in the city, and big parties on short-term rentals across the city.

“We are not playing,” Cantrell warned those who broke the rules. “You will lose your permission indefinitely.”

The bars have been a particular focus of coronavirus restrictions across the country, largely because they are places where people gather for long periods in large groups. That first meant a closure in the spring before a restricted reopening in June.

Then, as cases emerged in other parishes earlier this month, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced new rules that prohibit bars from serving anyone on their premises.

Yo-yoing has been frustrating for some bars and restaurants, many of which hired and ordered supplies and will now have to close, said Alex Fein, co-owner of the Court of Two Sisters and president of the French Business Quarter League. , which represents the Bourbon Street establishments.

But Fein said its members understood the need to suppress the spread of the virus.

Since the bars were restricted to take-out food, the neighborhood Mid-City Yacht Club bar still sold enough take-out drinks and hamburgers and nachos to take away to the waiters and cooks on the go. Now, however, co-owner Jeremy Sauer said even that drip seems to have dried up.

“I can see why the mayor did it. I also saw those photos from Bourbon Street. But I don’t think it was like that in the city, ”he said. “Some places in the city handled it correctly, but unfortunately now they are all being closed.”

Tucked away in its namesake neighborhood, Mid-City Yacht Club is a discreet watering hole compared to the great clubs and restaurants on Bourbon Street. With all the service done outside from a folding table underneath a folding tent, Sauer was confident that the bar was following the latest protocols.

“I feel like some bad apples spoiled this for the whole community,” he said. “You can’t just stay in the business with takeout.”

To help restaurants affected by the new rules, Cantrell said the city was implementing a $ 250,000 program that would award grants of up to $ 6,000 each to businesses that needed cash to expand their outdoor dining options. This occurs when the city is also working on new rules that would allow businesses to use more outdoor space on sidewalks or in parking lanes converted to parklets.

New Orleans has seen cases increase slowly since it entered the second phase of its reopening, although it has not seen alarming growth rates in other parts of the state.

In July, the city averaged about 80 new cases per day.

July’s New Orleans rates are approximately four times the daily average during Phase 1 and significantly higher than the city’s goal of 50 cases per day, and the growth is not due to increased testing alone. Those numbers, however, are well below parishes such as Lafayette, Jefferson, Calcasieu and East Baton Rouge, which have been hit hardest by the second outbreak. Each of those parishes has recorded an average of at least 140 cases per day since early July.

In many of those parishes, hospital systems have weakened in recent weeks due to the influx of patients with coronavirus in addition to those with other ailments. While New Orleans hospitals are in good shape right now, thanks in part to the massive increase in ICU beds and other resources that expanded when the city was devastated by the first outbreak in April, patients from other regions and Mississippi are already being transferred to New Orleans. And continued growth in cases will mean more hospitalized patients, said Dr. Jennifer Avegno, director of the city’s health department.

“Even though New Orleans is much better than many parishes around us, they are all increasing their cases and that is affecting” the city and its hospitals, Avegno said.