Leaders in Louisiana blamed the federal government after being asked why they allowed the massive Mardi Gras festival to take place during the coronavirus outbreak.
Mardi Gras drew thousands to New Orleans in the last week of February for its annual parade and festivities. Now, the massive celebration is believed to be the root of a severe coronavirus outbreak hitting the area. The city’s mayor said the celebration was allowed to take place because President Trump claimed the outbreak was contained at the time.
In a Sunday interview on ABC, Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards also blamed federal authorities.
“There was never any hint from anyone, to me or to the mayor of New Orleans, that there should be any consideration to downsizing or — or canceling Mardi Gras. I think if you look back, there were about 15 cases in the country, all of which were tied directly to travel or indirectly to travel,” Edwards explained.
He added, “There was never any hint of this, and if you’ll go back, you will see that the federal government was saying things were well under control. And so this is some Monday morning quarterbacking going on, and quite frankly, I believe it’s likely that Mardi Gras contributed to the seeding of the virus in and around New Orleans.”
Edwards said he’s not interested in what could have been done differently because he needs to address the outbreak in his state. He added, “I’m sure that somebody’s going to do a study about the impact of Mardi Gras on this particular public health emergency later.”
As of Sunday morning, Louisiana had nearly 2,500 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 137 deaths. Edwards predicted that New Orleans has until April 4 before it depletes its supply of ventilators needed to keep people alive in the late stages of the COVID-19 virus.
