The mayor of New Orleans took a shot at Trump,

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

saying the city would have canceled Mardi Gras if the federal government had taken the outbreak seriously

The mayor of New Orleans appeared to blame President Donald Trump's administration for her decision not to cancel this year's Mardi Gras celebrations in the city, which led to a spike in coronavirus cases in Louisiana state and turned it into one of the virus' hot zones in the US.

Though New York state remains the epicenter of the outbreak, Orleans Parish currently has the most cases per capita in the entire country by a longshot, according to NOLA.com. As of Friday, there were more than 2,300 cases in the state of Louisiana, and 83 people had died.

In a Thursday interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Mayor LaToya Cantrell explained that the city's Mardi Gras planning happens year-round and in close coordination with the federal government. This year's Mardi Gras celebrations took place on February 25.

She was given "no red flags" about a public health threat at any point, so they decided to continue with business as usual.

Link to tweet

?s=20

https://news.yahoo.com/mayor-coronavirus-plagued-orleans-took-110801981.html

[DonaldsRump]

1. I totally agree with her

This is EXACTLY what the federal government should have been doing: warning us about this.

Trump singlehandedly FUBARed this: call it what you want, whether it's the Trump Virus, the Trumpandemic, the Trump Plague. The key point is that every variation of whatever we call this horror in the US has "Trump" in it to remember the piece of shite that let is spread like wildfire in the US.

[dweller]

2. did she miss ?

damn, well at least she got her statement out there

expect blowback

✌🏼

[CottonBear]

3. Mayor LaToya Cantrell doesn't pull any punches.

She, along with so many other amazingly competent US mayors, is telling the truth.

[Ms. Toad]

4. She gets no pass from me.

I absolutely agree that the federal government should have been doing more.

That said, her medical experts should also have been doing more to warn her about the risks associated with the kinds of crowds and contact that an event like Mardi Gras includes. I've been tracking this and predicting it since mid-January. The current situation was not unknowable, or unpredictable for anyone with a mathematics or epidemiological background. Her own experts should have advised her to cancel it.

[DonaldsRump]

5. I don't agree with your position at all

I went to an international conference on the West Coast in the mid to late-February 2020. There is NO WAY that a governor or mayor would have the ability to see what was happening. The ONLY person is the President/US federal government, and they did NOTHING.

The US gave ABSOLUTELY no warning to me about attending this conference. I totally empathize with NOLA's mayor.

[Ms. Toad]

8. You are not a mayor, in charge of the health and safety of your city.

I don't necessarily expect individual to have that level of knowledge - but I do expect it of mayors (at least of large cities) and governors.

Whether you predicted it or not, I was predicting it here on DU since mid-January. I am not a mayor or governor, nor am I the president or employed by the federal government. I have no special inside knowledge - I just watched publically available data and ran the numbers.

It is a no-brainer that an event like Mardi Gras woudl be a disastrous cauldron for passing infections (and transmitting them around the country). When (being generous) you've known for a month about the situation in China - AND - you know that we have community spread cases in the US, you owe it to your constituents before letting this go forward to be curious enough about it to do more than rely on the idiot in chief. From ths video, it does not appear that she did more - since it is primarily a "no one told me" explanation.

[Ms. Toad]

9. Just check out what Ohio did in the same time frame.

Page 2, start with 2/1 and go through 2/15 (all before Mardi Gras).

Ohio order.

Also note that on 1/30 WHO declared COVID 19 a public health emergency of international concern, and the federal government declared a public health emergency the next day - close to a month before Mardi Gras.

As I noted in my earlier response - none of this is to excuse the Federal government's failure to be more assertive and forthcoming. It is just to counter the idea that, "There is NO WAY that a governor or mayor would have the ability to see what was happening."

[DonaldsRump]

10. Here's an example

of why this view might work in hindsight, but is impossible for a state or local government official to make in isolation.

How many times has an international pandemic been acted upon by a local official without coordination from the US federal government? I am not aware of any times.

That's not to say that it hasn't occurred, but the Mayor of NOLA simply does not have the access to resources and relationships at the international level that the US President has. The video below is a perfect example of the dissonance among the various governments in the US. How the NOLA Mayor could suspend Mardi Gras in light of this dissonance is not realistic. Maybe in hindsight, but not in the context of what she was hearing at the time.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017574152

[wellst0nev0ter]

11. Ohio didn't declare a state of emergency

Until March 9, well after Mardis Gras.

There were only around 14 reported cases during Mardis Gras throughout the country, and no deaths.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6908e1.htm

Keep those contexts in mind, and the fact 45 was downplaying the virus, before scoring points off a beleaguered mayor.

[greenjar_01]

7. I never agree with Ms. Toad

But I do in this case.

We knew this virus was wild and highly infectious and in the country. Holding Mardi Gras was Jaws Mayor level stupid and reckless. The Feds have been so completely out to sea that Trump and other decision makers should be criminally charged with reckless endangerment, but holding Mardi Gras was ridiculous.

[LAS14]

6. Do you know where we can find state by state PER CAPITA figures? nt