Muted Mardi Gras: Closed Bars, Barricaded Bourbon Street

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Mardi Gras has arrived in New Orleans. But between cold weather and COVID-19, morning streets were nearly empty rather than jam-packed with picnickers and parade watchers. All parades are canceled and bars throughout the city have been closed since Friday. Even take-out drinks are forbidden. And officials put restrictions on crowds in the historic French Quarter, where Mardi Gras crowds are usually most crowded and rowdy. It was also freezing cold. Other Gulf Coast communities also have taken virus-related safety measures. Mobile, Alabama, for instance, has canceled parades.

KXL spoke with WWL Reporter Dave Cohen