'We were not given a warning': New Orleans mayor says federal inaction informed Mardi Gras decision

[UpInArms]

Source: Washington Post

NEW ORLEANS — More than a million dancing, singing, bead-catching celebrants packed the streets of the French Quarter and other venues across this city in the weeks leading up to the sprawling open-air party that is Mardi Gras.
There was little worry during the February festivities about the new virus that had infected a few dozen people in other parts of the country. The city's top health official believed the flu "is far more dangerous right now than the coronavirus," she told the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate newspaper.
Thirteen days later, on March 9, Louisiana reported its first case of covid-19. Then came another, and another. Clusters broke out in several nursing homes. The cases popping up across the state were not easily linked to each other, meaning that a galloping community spread was already underway.

... snip ...

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said canceling or curtailing Mardi Gras was never considered. Federal agencies that are part of planning Mardi Gras every year – including the FBI and Homeland Security – did not raise concerns about coronavirus, she said. Federal officials who walked the parade route with members of her administration were focused on terrorist attacks.

“We were not given a warning or even told, ‘Look, you know what? Don’t have Mardi Gras,’?” she said.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/coronavirus-new-orleans-mardi-gras/2020/03/26/8c8e23c8-6fbb-11ea-b148-e4ce3fbd85b5_story.html?outputType=amp

---

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/03/politics/coronavirus-trump-cdc-timeline/

OFFICIAL US ACTIONS
January 8
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes a health advisory regarding the “pneumonia of unknown etiology” that appears to have originated in Wuhan.

OFFICIAL US ACTIONS
January 17
The CDC dispatches more than 100 staffers to three US airports to screen passengers arriving from Wuhan, a highly unusual step only taken during major health crises.

OFFICIAL US ACTIONS
January 21
Dr. Nancy Messonnier, a senior CDC official handling the response to respiratory diseases, tells reporters, “We do expect additional cases in the United States and globally.”

TRUMP COMMENTS
January 22
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump says he isn’t worried that the outbreak could turn into a global pandemic, and said he is confident that China is being transparent about the number of cases. “We have it totally under control,” Trump told CNBC. “It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”

OFFICIAL US ACTIONS
January 23
CDC advisers tell CNN they are concerned that Chinese health officials haven’t released basic epidemiological data about the virus, making it more difficult to contain the outbreak. Questions remain about how quickly people with the infection become contagious.

TRUMP COMMENTS
January 24
Senior officials from the CDC brief senators about the latest developments about the virus. Later, Trump posts his first tweet about the coronavirus. He praises the Chinese government for its “transparency” handling the outbreak and says, “it will all work out well.”

FOREIGN DEVELOPMENTS
January 25
The WHO says there are more than 1,000 confirmed cases worldwide.

FOREIGN DEVELOPMENTS
January 26
Chinese government health officials reveal for the first time that people who are infected with the coronavirus can spread the disease before they are showing any symptoms.

OFFICIAL US ACTIONS
January 29
The White House announces a coronavirus task force, which is led by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and is being coordinated through the National Security Council. Trump attend a meeting of the task force and tweeted that the experts “are on top of it.”

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Tribunal after this would convict rump of millions of cases of voluntary manslaughter

[OnDoutside]

2. Maybe don't rely on Fox News for your news next time.....

[DENVERPOPS]

9. And

Rush Limpballs right wing Fascist radio tripe......

[OnDoutside]

11. +1

[Drumpf hater]

3. The mayor and governor should have known better than to trust what the White House was telling them,

to be quite honest.

[BigmanPigman]

41. Exactly!

If even I knew how dangerous Carnival and Mardi Gras woild be why the didn't she? Even my 17 year old dog knew it! The mayor is another moron!

[ancianita]

4. Her excuse is that she wasn't told what to do. Cantrell is a poor mayor.

I have friends there who think so, at this point.

[FarPoint]

8. Yea....she got caught up with tradition...

She was not looking...apparently, no one was...

[fleur-de-lisa]

14. I live in New Orleans and can point to at least a hundred friends and family members

who think she's a great mayor.

She is our first female mayor and she is African American. I'm pretty protective of her.

[nycbos]

17. Other cites canceled big events.

New York and Chicago (who as an female African-American mayor) canceled St. Patricks's day parades for instance.


She saw all the tourist $$$$ and didn't think it would be a big problem.

I think 45 is a horrible excuse for a human but this is one thing that you can't blame on him.

[Roy Rolling]

27. No comparison

New Orleans cancelled St Patrick’s Day parades. Mardi Gras was February 25th.

[snpsmom]

30. Saint Patricks' Day

was three weeks after Mardi Gras.

Additionally, the celebrations for Mardi Gras in New Orleans begin weeks before the actual February 25 final calendar date. Had the federal government been more serious about its coronavirus warnings, I'm certain the city would have been more inclined to curtail the celebrations. New Orleans did, in fact, cancel its famous St. Patrick's Day parades, as other cities did.

[Sgent]

35. New Orleans canceled

St Patrick's Day long before Boston and NY. Mardi Gras this year was from Jan 6 to Feb 25.

[dpibel]

39. Is that a fair comparison?

Just for quick and easy, I'm using Wikipedia:

For February 24, the day before Mardi Gras:
"The United States confirmed 18 more cases including evacuated passengers from the cruise ship, bringing the total number to 53."

For March 16, the day before St. Patrick's Day:
"The United States confirmed 974 new cases, bringing the total number to 4,459. 22 more deaths were reported, bringing the total number to 87."

Heck, here's Robert Redfield, king of the CDC, testifying before Congress on Feb. 27, two days after Mardi Gras:

"Most cases of COVID-19 in the United States have been associated with travel from China, but some person-to-person spread among close contacts of travelers has been seen. It’s important to note that this virus is not spreading within American communities at this time.

"The potential global public health threat posed by this virus is high, but right now, the immediate risk to most Americans is low. The greater risk is for people who have recently traveled to China or been exposed to someone with COVID-19."

You sure it was the same judgement call for both Mardi Gras and St. Pat's?

[Cozmo]

5. Come on, now

As much as I blame MF 45 for just about everything wrong with the world, even I knew that hosting Mardi Gras during this time was a bomb waiting to go off. Sorry, but

[Roy Rolling]

31. No you didn't

February 25th was the last Mardi Gras parade, Mardi Gras began three weeks earlier.

[Cozmo]

47. Yes, I did! Grow Up!

Maybe you were not aware of this menace but I, like so many others did know that Mardi Gras should not have taken place. I hold no political office, but I do keep up with current events and corona virus has been on the radar for quite some time. New Orleans Mayor should have been aware of it as well. Her actions showed little concern for her constituency and most likely she was far more concerned about it's negative economic impact.

Look, the asshole in the WH had this information as well and chose to stick his head in the sand. No one should be looking to trump as the arbiter of wisdom or protector of the people. Any citizen or elected official, for that matter should know this. If they don't, well then, you are fucked.

[dpibel]

54. You knew more than the CDC!

Too bad you're not running things.

Pasted from #39, above:

Here's Robert Redfield, king of the CDC, testifying before Congress on Feb. 27, two days after Mardi Gras:

"Most cases of COVID-19 in the United States have been associated with travel from China, but some person-to-person spread among close contacts of travelers has been seen. It’s important to note that this virus is not spreading within American communities at this time.

"The potential global public health threat posed by this virus is high, but right now, the immediate risk to most Americans is low. The greater risk is for people who have recently traveled to China or been exposed to someone with COVID-19."

[DENVERPOPS]

6. Call the

Waaaambulance.........you were more concerned with Revenue than using your heads, even though, contrary to your bullshit that "you weren't warned".

Same with your religious church leaders continuing to pack your churches goers in close quarters and "praying you'll be okay."...

This virus is saying the same thing my old man used to say: "you better give your heart to god, because I am going to have your ass"

[Autumn]

7. Are we to believe she was unaware that other states were shutting down activities

and businesses? I call bullshit on her 'We were not given a warning' excuse. She allowed the people in that city to gather like that and spread the virus.

[Docreed2003]

36. When were other states shutting down activities

February 25th???

[Autumn]

42. People were discussing it. We were all well aware of what China and Italy were doing.

Americans were brought back from the cruise lines before Mardi Gras. She knew, she had to have known.

[EllieBC]

10. Did no one have a newspaper or news app prior to 3 weeks ago?

This has been in the news. The mayor could have easily done a risk assessment and realized it wasn’t a good idea.

[MadLinguist]

18. February 25, the final day of Mardi Gras season, there weren't even any cases in Washington State

The first case in Washington state was February 28. The season of Mardi Gras, with parades most weekends starts January 6th, gradually drawing larger and larger crowds, all the way up the the final weekend, February 21 through February 23, with a somewhat smaller set of Mardi Gras tourists staying on til the actual day of. So say what you will about Mayor Cantrell, I am not sure that alarm bells were yet ringing by February 25th in this country.

[Juneboarder]

20. Seattle, WA received it's first confirmed case on 1/21/20. nt

[Sgent]

37. Yes and no

the nasal sample was taken on 1/21 for flu tracking purposes, but it wasn't tested until late February. Even then it was done illegally.

[BusyBeingBest]

12. Just like FL governor--wanted the $$$

(and not anger New Orleans businesses) and then hurry up and close the barn door afterward.

[SWBTATTReg]

13. Eh, common sense dictates responsible parties should have erred on the side of caution and not ...

held the events, e.g., if there is a serious indication of a terrorist bomb threat, most people do act, they cancel events on the side of caution, don't hold the event or cancel/move them. Others, just shrug it off.

With this virus, you can't shrug it off. Avoid crowds. Avoid areas of possible contamination. Wipe down surfaces/commonly touched surfaces. Wash hands. Wash face. If a sunny day, decontaminate surfaces by sitting in full sunshine, rotate surface (no perishables). Get into a habit of wiping down surfaces several times a day (I use a hydrogen peroxide soaked rag) around common areas in the house.

We avoid crowds anyway (me and SO) just to avoid any potential nasty things, just a survival thing w/ the two of us, always been this way).

Unfortunately my other half still works, deals w/ the public, so I worry constantly. However, work has stepped up to the plate by giving all full time employees an additional paid two weeks time off, to be taken anytime. Also unlimited paid sick time off if need be. Also will give all full time employees an extra $100 a week too! Also will work far more OT as needed (at double time).

Sadly (but I understand the logic), they will no longer hire after this Friday (March 27, 2020).

[mountain grammy]

15. Mardi Gras was the last Tuesday in Feb

the following Friday, Trump called the virus a hoax and his SC hate rally..

No leadership.. complete incompetence. Unbelievable.

[nycbos]

16. I am as anti Trump as they come...

... but other cities took responsible courses of action.

New York and Chicago canceled their St. Patricks day parades for instance.

[MadLinguist]

19. February 25 til March 17 was a full month

[happy feet]

46. I get it.

Useless to argue with those not considering the timing of Mardis Gras, facts and context. Just that the mayor is apparently stupid and greedy.

It is the Fedl Govt and Intelligence's responsibility to send alerts to States re: Homeland Security, etc. predicting security concerns.

[Initech]

21. Yes, Trump royally fucked up on this one.

I went to a concert on 3/11 (which should not have happened but did) and it was so weird to be in the middle of the Park MGM watching the entire world shut down and my event was still going on! Thanks, Chump, you done fucked up big time on this one!

[47of74]

22. If we had a competent President instead of this Orange Shitfuck

We'd be watching the March Madness sweet 16 now and the Cubbies would be playing now.

Fuck Trump

[Initech]

24. Yeah I'm supposed to be in Vancouver today.

And I've never been to Canada before. Instead, I'm sitting at my computer screen at home looking at the Google 3-D map of downtown Vancouver while screaming "fuck the virus".

[Skid Rogue]

23. Absolute disaster!

I'm so upset by this whole situation. I don't give a damn about politics, folks are dying. The inaction by Washington reminds me of Katrina, only a million times worse. Remember Brownie?

[Initech]

25. Oh yeah. I've been using the "Heckuva job" quote for a while now.

[Strelnikov_]

26. "When they scream for mama, that means they are about to die."

"A family came in with symptoms of covid-19 — a mother with two sons and a daughter ranging in age from the late 30s to 50s. After a few days, one son was dead, the daughter was on a ventilator and the mother was in hospice. The other son left the hospital before receiving the results of his test. It was positive."

“I haven’t felt so mortal in a very long time,” a second nurse said. “The last couple weeks feel like they’ve been years.”

The speed at which the patients deteriorate is the scariest thing, they said.

“People are going from, ‘Yeah, I don’t really feel well. I think I’m sick,’?” the second nurse said. “And a matter of hours later, they are intubated and in renal failure. It’s terrifying.”

[tblue37]

29. Do you have a link for this quoted passage? nt

[Strelnikov_]

33. WAPO article linked in the OP

Prepare yourself.

[tblue37]

40. Oh. Thanks. nt

[Strelnikov_]

28. "flashing red" . . . are Louisiana and its neighbors Alabama and Mississippi

“We have a sicker populace in Louisiana with more co-morbidities” — underlying illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity — “than a lot of other cities do in the country,” said Kanter from the state health department. “Yes, we think that the people of Louisiana have a high degree of vulnerability, and we’re worried that that might translate into a higher percentage of hospitalization.”

Simon Johnson, a professor at MIT, has developed a model that pinpoints Louisiana as the next place “where covid-19 will wreak havoc.” The co-director of MIT’s coronavirus alliance and his team assigned risk scores to every county in the United States based on the medical factors that make a person vulnerable to severe illness from coronavirus: age, obesity, diabetes and hypertension. The areas that he says were “flashing red” as having high rates of all of those are Louisiana and its neighbors Alabama and Mississippi.

“This is what we believe happened in Bergamo,” he said, referring to a region of Italy that has been hit hard by the virus. “It was a lot of vulnerable people living together in close quarters that caused the devastation.”

[Roy Rolling]

32. A history lesson

Mardi Gras began in January and ended February 25th at midnight.

[Strelnikov_]

34. "COVID-19 Relative Risk Factors Comparison per State"

https://www.covidalliance.com/interactive-data-tools

The interactive map represents a relative risk profile of counties within each state. The red areas on the map represent regions with higher relative risk compared to the white ones. To categorize counties e produced a score that ranges from 0 to 6, 6 being the highest risk. For each of the risk factors a county can be given 2, 1, or 0 points if it belongs to the top 25%, top 50%, or bottom 50% of counties in the state, respectively. The risk profile was created on the basis of three categories – hypertension, diabetes, and obesity.

We have overlaid the number of known COVID-19 cases in the form of blue circles on top of the corresponding county.

We are in for a long, rough, ride.

[littlemissmartypants]

44. The map was down when I tried it just now. nt

[Docreed2003]

38. So much bs in the replies here

This wasn't St Patrick's Day parades we're talking about..Mardi Gras was February 25 and people had been coming to New Orleans for weeks before that for carnival parades. There was ZERO federal response to Covid at that time and the mayor was acting on the best intel she had at that time. They got no warning because the federal government was ignoring the risk.

[Cozmo]

48. Yeah you're right, there is a whole lot of bs reflected in these replies

The Federal Government shut it's doors the day the orange, tiny fisted asshole became president. Elected officials who are looking to the WH for direction are dangerous to our health and safety. It wasn't just citizens from New Orleans who were attending Mardi Gras. These people came, co-mingled and flew back to their homes spreading contagion everywhere in between. If the mayor of New Orleans can't pick up a newspaper or watch the news than, WTF. We are all gonna die and stupidity is the #1 suspect! I guess the mayor needed a house to fall on her to bring her back to reality. That's a shame. She can blame whomever the fuck she wants, but the outcome is still the same. She needs to focus her time on dealing with the problems and stop complaining. I hold her responsible, let's see if she can handle the challenge for which she was elected.

[Docreed2003]

49. You're telling me that in February

Before any major events had been cancelled, before any sporting events were pushed back, this mayor should have canceled Mardi Gras??!! Yeah, that's bullshit. This is not like the governor if fucking Florida who shrugs his shoulders just last week to beachfuls of spring breakers after there is a full blown pandemic. Yeah we're all gonna die from stupidity all right, but it ain't because of the mayor of New Orleans.

[Cozmo]

50. YES, SHE SHOULD HAVE

Unfortunately stupidity is running rampant right now, and no, I'm not saying that the mayor of New Orleans is gonna to cause our demise. It's the blatant acceptance of this mass stupidity that's gonna do us all in. Believe what you will, but I knew that Mardi Gras was a bad idea. Too bad I wasn't in a position to do something about it. My career was devoted to keeping large groups of people safe, it was my responsibility and I took it very seriously. I needed to anticipate all potential threats and act accordingly. COVID -19 is a threat and this threat presented itself well before Mardi Gras.

[Docreed2003]

52. And I applaud your work but that's very easy to say today

No one in America was canceling large gatherings of people in February, or in January when carnival started in New Orleans. In retrospect, yes it should have been canceled. But the standout thing to me is the federal government fucking knew in Jan and February and didn't bother to share that intelligence with ANYONE!! They knew, members of Congress knew and were warning their major donors in secret meetings, but the rest of the country wasn't fucking warned....because Donald Trump was too worried about how it would affect his re-election.

[Cozmo]

55. Like you said

Congress knew, big money donors knew and that serial, lying piece of shit knew. I just can't figure out why anyone is shocked by this. We've been living in bizarro world since the 2016 election. The corona virus didn't happen overnight. We read about it in the papers, on the internet, and we saw it on TV well before Mardi Gras. Some responsible official needed to be the first one to cancel a large event in the interest of public safety. Obviously it wasn't the Mayor of New Orleans. Too bad, hopefully she can suck it up, learn a life lesson and move forward to keep her constituency safe as we all make our way through this catastrophe. MF45 is without shame. If blaming him for any of his crimes against humanity worked, he would have been gone a long time ago.

[Luciferous]

45. Bullshit. They didn't want to lose out on the massive amount of money the city

makes during Mardi Gras.

[cmb1729]

51. New Orleanian here...

All through Mardi Gras I was thinking and telling others, that holding Mardi Gras was a big mistake. Mardi Gras was on February 25 and the first case in the United States was around January 25. I live in the suburbs but have to go into the city for a treatment similar to dialysis 3 times a week. I go to a hospital in uptown New Orleans. I started wearing a mask and gloves long before everyone else was doing the same. Even some of my nurses thought I was over reacting. They were all looking forward to Mardi Gras and attending the balls and parades. I skipped all of it. I am scared to have to go to the hospital on Monday, Wednesday and Friday but I am thankful it is at least being taken seriously now.

I sort of disagree with the Mayor saying she didn’t cancel Mardi Gras because the Feds were not issuing any red flags against it. There were plenty of news items about it. It wasn’t a big secret. I do give her credit for canceling St. Patrick’s Day parades and activities and large gatherings before many thought it was advised. Our Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser (R) came out adamantly against her for doing even that. I really like Mayor Cantrell. I find she is independent and not afraid to speak truth to power. I can only imagine the pressure she was under not to cancel Mardi Gras.

As an aside, there were a couple of incidents this year where two parade goers were run over by going between tandem floats. She immediately halted the use of tandem floats for the rest of Mardi Gras. A tandem float is when two are more floats are tied together through the use of metal tow bars or some other mechanism. The float drivers who are usually on a tractor in the front cannot see if people are going in between the tied together floats. Until this year it did not seem to be a problem. I give the mayor much credit for immediately disallowing the use of the tandem floats for the rest of Mardi Gras. They are used a lot. My reason for bringing this up is that when she made this change immediately, I remember thinking that maybe canceling the big day of Mardi Gras was still a possibility. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen and we are now dealing with the consequences. Honestly though, by that time Mardi Gras parades had been going on for almost two weeks by that time. So I don’t know how big an effect cancelling the last few big days would have been. I shudder to think of all the million or more people, bringing the virus back home to other areas of the world as well as the local participants who remain. We survived Katrina in 2005 and the oil spill in 2010. I can only hope our time has not run out.

[Sapient Donkey]

53. Mid-February seems like so long ago now.

But I can at that time there was enough alarm that I personally was taking precautions. I would only assume leaders across the country had the same, if not more, information than little irrelevant me. Had they stopped the festival, then they would have taken a political hit for a short period of time, but a month later they would have been hailed as excellent proactive leaders willing to make tough decisions.

For sure Trump and his admin should have been leading the charge, but that doesn't mean others shouldn't have stepped up in their zones of control.