NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the city has just one week to turn around rising coronavirus case numbers or more restrictions will have to be put in place.
“Our cases are on the rise! We have ONE week to get them down or NOLA will have to issue more restrictions to #slowthespread,” Cantrell wrote on Twitter on Monday.
The message was accompanied by a graph showing a sharp increase in 7-day average new cases in Orleans Parish.
The city's health department director, Dr. Jennifer Avegno, has scheduled a news conference around 3:30 p.m. to speak about restrictions. That news conference will be broadcast live on WWLTV.com when it begins.
According to data from the Louisiana Department of Health, Orleans Parish has reported on average 160 new cases each day for the last seven days. That average is about six times higher than the first week of November
The 7-day average positive test rate has also sharply increased since early November.
“Our current situation is hurting our healthcare system and our healthcare workers. They have done so much for us, mask up for them,” Cantrell added.
New Orleans moved back to Phase Two reopening on Nov. 25.
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