February 17, 2022 LDH provides guidance on Mardi Gras safety

-

As Mardi Gras season gets into full swing, the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) is sharing guidance with the public on how to celebrate more safely.
 
Louisiana continues to come down from its Omicron-fueled surge and statewide percent positivity has decreased from 14.3% to 9.1%. We continue to move in the right direction. However, the entire state continues to experience very high levels of COVID transmission. 
 
We know that layered prevention strategies are the most effective way to stay safe, and LDH recommends using similar tools to celebrate Mardi Gras more safely:
 
"We definitely are on the downswing of our biggest surge yet, but there still is widespread transmission throughout the state. Thankfully, we have more tools to protect ourselves than we have ever had before, and there are many ways to Mardi Gras,” said State Health Officer Dr. Joseph Kanter.
 
Free N95 masks provided by the White House are being distributed to all Winn-Dixie stores in the state, as well as participating Walmart and Sam’s Club locations. Masks are also available at the following Walgreens locations:
 
You can learn about vaccination sites near you by calling Louisiana’s vaccine hotline at 1-855-453-0774. You can also find a vaccine site online at ldh.la.gov/covidvaccine or text your ZIP code to GETVAX (438829) in English or VACUNA (822862) in Spanish.
 
You can find testing site locations and hours at ldh.la.gov/covidtesting or you can call 211 to find a site near you.

Surgeon General Ralph L. Abraham, M.D.

Secretary Bruce D. Greenstein

Powered by Cicero Government