The Big Easy Distributes Rapid COVID-19 Tests Before Fat Tuesday

In 2020, New Orleans let the good times roll and paid the price. The city hosted its traditional Mardi Gras celebration, which was followed by a bad hangover—a precipitous rise in COVID-19 cases. After becoming a Southern hot spot of COVID-19, the city wants this year to be different. So, in addition to parade riders throwing out beads, they also tossed rapid COVID-19 tests to crowds at the Krewe of Muses parade on Thursday, February 24.  The tests have a QR code on the box so Mardi Gras partiers can anonymously report their COVID-19 results to the Department of Public Health. The city also requires masking indoors and COVID-19 vaccination or proof of negative test to enter indoor eateries, theaters, and bars. Click here to read more.