Festivities, including major parades that bring thousands to the streets, were largely canceled in 2021.
There had been concerns that the 2020 Mardi Gras celebration had been an unintended “super spreader” of coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic.
This year, city officials are moving ahead with plans for major parades in February, with precautions including vaccine or testing requirements for float riders and customers of bars, restaurants and other public places.
Louisiana’s governor said last week that the state is setting records for new COVID-19 diagnoses, and the omicron variant surge is just beginning.
TOPEKA, Kansas — Kansas has reported a record seven-day average for new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases.
State health department data released Monday showed that Kansas reported an average of 3,134 new COVID-19 cases a day for the seven days ending Monday. That’s 13% higher than the previous record of 2,767 cases per day for the seven days ending Nov. 18, 2020.
Kansas has now reported more than 534,000 cases for the pandemic or more than one for every six of its 2.9 million residents.
The state also averaged 38 new COVID-19 hospitalizations and 11 new reported deaths a day for the seven days ending Monday. The new numbers came as the state starts to see reports of the omicron variant spreading.
