NEW ORLEANS — It’s hard to imagine New Orleans without Mardi Gras, but it could happen next year.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell told the Washington Post Tuesday that it gives her “great pause” to think of moving forward with Mardi Gras in 2021 in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s something that we have to think about,” Cantrell said. “It’s something that we have to put on the table. It all depends again on when we reopen the city, the steps that we take to reopen, meaning I want slow and steady and if we move on this path of being healthier without any regression than it puts us closer to being prepared to host Mardi Gras come 2021.”
Cantrell noted that the data has to dictate that it will be safe to host Mardi Gras before the City will commit to doing it.
Many health experts say Mardi Gras could have been the perfect environment for coronavirus to spread among New Orleans’ population before the federal government recognized it as a health crisis.
“We have to learn from lessons,” Cantrell said. “It will give me great pause right now before I commit to saying that we’re moving forward with Mardi Gras 2021. We will let the data dictate the date.”
Governor John Bel Edwards was asked about Mardi Gras 2021 during his daily press briefing later that day and said that it's too early to even look at next year's events now.
"We don’t know enough today to hazard a guess at what the circumstances are going to be," Edwards said. "I’ve declined to answer questions about what this Fall is going to look like."
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