New Orleans, Louisiana, is one of the latest areas of the country to reimplement a mask mandate, nearly two years after the start of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
New Orleans Health Director Dr. Jennifer Avegno made the announcement on Tuesday, giving the city a day’s notice before the coming change.
“At all indoor spaces, including schools, effective tomorrow (Wednesday, Jan. 12) at 6:00 a.m. and remaining in place until further notice,” she said, failing to offer an end date for the mandate. Avegno added:
Even if our cases begin to decline in the next week or two – and I believe that is likely – hospitalizations and deaths will lag, likely for at least the next month, and that’s right up to the time that individuals from areas with lower vaccination rates and later omicron surges will be at our doorstep.
According to 4WWL, the mask mandate applies to indoor places and is “in addition to the current requirement of vaccination proof or a negative COVID test to dine in the city’s restaurants or frequent the city’s bars.”
Indeed, the city currently requires proof of vaccination or proof of a negative test to dine in an indoor restaurant or enter a bar. Not only that, but the city has expanded the mandate to children as well.
“The goal here is to protect our kids, to protect schools, our health care workers, to protect the system,” Avegno continued. “It shouldn’t matter whether we’re having a party in March, but if people need extra motivation, maybe that’s what they’ll find.”
Notably, Avegno is “strongly” recommending “high-quality mask,” adding, “and by that, I mean a surgical mask, KN95 or N95, to provide the most robust protection.” That recommendation comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reportedly weighs recommending the American public to opt for the N95 or KN95 mask as well, despite initially advising against it due to worries over shortages for healthcare workers.
The reinstitution of mask mandates across the country come nearly two years into the pandemic, with no immediate end in sight. President Biden himself pitched “just” 100 days of masking to “reduce COIVD cases, hospitalizations, and death” last year — another broken promise.
“Whatever your politics or point of view — mask up for 100 days,” he pleaded, claiming it would take just “100 days to make a difference.”
That, however, did not prove to be true as cases continue to spike all around the country in Biden’s first year of office, despite his vow to defeat the virus.