Mardi Gras revelers, accustomed to catching beads, small toys or other trinkets tossed by parade float riders during Carnival season, were able to snag a new parade favor Thursday: rapid COVID-19 tests.
As Carnival season nears its raucous pre-Lenten climax on Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) next week, the handing out of tests during the Krewe of Muses parade is emblematic of the city’s effort to avoid a surge of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths while reviving cherished, and economically vital, Carnival events. Those events were largely silenced in 2021 after officials realized the 2020 celebration had been a “superspreader” event that made Louisiana an early Southern hot spot for the disease.
