NEW ORLEANS — Renewed Coronavirus restrictions could be in place in New Orleans as early as this weekend.
City leaders said we must do more to stem an alarming surge in new Covid-19 cases now pushing local hospitals to the limit.
Slim Goodies Diner on Magazine Street is already taking steps to help slow the spread of the virus.
“I have maintained some of the space requirements simply because as the Delta variant starts to go up again, it makes sense to me for tables to be further spread apart,” owner Deborah Schumacher said. “We’ve shut down our counter service again.”
Schumacher is now bracing for potential new restrictions that could once again limit the number of guests in her restaurant and hours of operation.
Tuesday, city health director Dr. Jennifer Avegno told a city council committee nothing is off the table.
“We shouldn’t have to be there because we know more than we did in March and April and we have more tools,” Avegno said. “We’ve got short-term tools masks and we’ve got long-term answers with vaccinations.”
Louisiana’s top health official, Dr. Joe Kanter told the state’s Board of Regents for Higher Education, additional statewide mitigation measures might be necessary if new Covid cases continue to surge.
"God forbid, if we don’t peak within a week or two it’s simply going to be a catastrophic situation for hospitals,” Kanter said. “There’s no way to remotely sustain that.”
Kanter told the board, hospitals are filling up and turning away patients.
“I worked this past weekend in New Orleans, and we accepted a transfer of an acute heart attack patient and this patient had to bypass 6 separate hospitals to get to us with an acute active heart attack which means the outcome could be worse for that individual,” Kanter said.
An indoor mask mandate is already in place in the city and across the state.
But, Mayor LaToya Cantrell has yet to restrict capacity in bars restaurants or the Superdome as she did in earlier phases of the pandemic.
More than 52 percent of the city’s population is fully vaccinated
That’s compared to less than 40 percent statewide.
“I would just ask that if you’re not vaccinated you are putting yourself, our residents and everybody else you come in contact with at risk,” Avegno said. “Vaccinations save lives and keep people out of the hospital.”
Back at Slim Goodies Diner, the virus hits close to home.
“I have a very good friend in the hospital right now in ICU,” Schumacher said. “I have another friend who just went into the hospital. One is vaccinated, one is not. It’s terrifying.
As of Wednesday, close to 2,900 patients were hospitalized with Covid in Louisiana and the number continues to grow.