GRETNA, La. — Gretna's Heritage Festival for 2021 has been cancelled due to COVID concerns it was announced Monday.
The festival is the latest one in the metro New Orleans area to cancel over a spike in COVID cases due to the delta variant and a low vaccination rate. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival announced it would not hold its rescheduled event this fall. This past weekend the White Linen Night was significantly altered and this coming weekend's Red Dress Run was cancelled.
"The city of Gretna, in collaboration with the Gretna Economic Development Association and the Gretna Heritage Festival, have decided, after careful consideration of the public's safety, to cancel this year's Gretna Heritage Festival due to COVID concerns," said a press release from the city.
Festival organizers said they hope to return the festival next Fall, on October 7-9.
Louisiana reported more than 16,000 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend, as hospitalizations continue to skyrocket at an unprecedented pace.
The Louisiana Department of Health on Monday reported 16,541 new cases and 50 new deaths over the weekend. COVID-19 positive hospitalizations also increased by 299 to a total of 2,720 patients across the states - 91 percent of which are unvaccinated.
The state’s health department said the largest share of new cases were reported in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and the Northshore.
Louisiana has reported more than 48,000 new cases of the virus in the first nine days of August.
The LDH reported that 65,589 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered since the previous update last week.