New Orleans could enter its next phase of reopening as early as this week, the city’s director of communications, Beau Tidwell, told reporters Tuesday morning.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell and Dr. Jennifer Avegno, the city’s health director, are expected to announce restriction rollbacks at a press conference Wednesday morning, Tidwell said.
“Right now all of our numbers are moving in the right direction and we do anticipate additional easement of the guidelines,” Tidwell said.
The city is currently averaging 30 new cases a day and has an overall positivity rate of 1.5 percent, down from 1.8 percent the week before, Tidwell said.
“The fact that our positivity rate is so low is not an accident,” he said. “That’s due to the hard work that our residents and businesses have done to observe the guidelines we have put in place.”
Gov. John Bel Edwards rolled back some restrictions last week, officially ushering the state back into Phase 3. In response, Cantrell said the city would not follow the state and instead continue to enforce stricter rules.
When New Orleans does enter its own version of Phase 3, Tidwell said a perfect alignment of local and state restrictions is unlikely.
Throughout the pandemic, the city’s government has been more aggressive when it comes to implementing mitigation measures, including implementing a mask mandate ahead of the state.
Governors in Texas and Mississippi recently lifted their state’s mask mandates and Alabama’s is set to expire next month. For now, Edwards has elected to keep Louisiana’s in place.
When asked whether New Orleans would consider lifting its local mask mandate, Tidwell did not provide a direct answer and instead stressed the effectiveness of masks.
“Masks make people more safe and until we are at a spot where we are completely comfortable that everyone is safe, we are going to continue to urge everyone to wear a mask,” Tidwell said. “What that looks like in terms of a mandate or in terms of guidelines, that is going to be determined by data.
“Certainly for the foreseeable future, the mayor is going to want everybody to wear a mask.”
Tidwell said right now the city’s key metric for data-driven decisions is vaccine availability and uptake.
More than 24 percent of New Orleanians have received one dose of the vaccine, according to Tidwell, and nearly 12 percent are completely vaccinated.
The city’s goal is to reach herd immunity or about 75 percent, Tidwell said.
He encouraged residents to get on the city’s vaccine waitlist, regardless of their current eligibility.
