New Orleans strikes positive note
City eases virus rules, will allow live music
NEW ORLEANS — Live indoor music can resume in New Orleans this weekend, city officials announced Wednesday, but dancing will remain prohibited, while venues, performers and audiences will be under strict requirements to employ measures to control the spread of the coronavirus.
The new rules take effect Friday in response to a decline of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the city. It was not immediately clear how many bars and other live music venues will be able to meet the new protocols and begin hosting live entertainment again in a city where music is ingrained in cultural history and vital to tourism.
Brian Greenberg, general manager of Tipitina’s, said he thinks the historic music club and bar might be able to pull it off, although not right away. “We have a floor plan that we’ve already mapped out,” he said Wednesday. “We’re a big room, so we have that advantage.”
Greenberg added that he and the bar’s owners and staff still need to review the extensive regulations, which are based on guidelines already in effect statewide. They require mask-wearing, social distancing, proper ventilation and include details on when singers are required to wear face coverings and how trumpet players should empty their spit valves.
Dancing is ruled out under the regulations, which also note that patrons must “refrain from cheering or singing along.”
“Each club, institution is really going to have to look at those and then check with the state fire marshal,” city health director Jennifer Avegno said at a news conference. “They’re not overly onerous. They can be done.”
Rachael Arrington, a manager at the Maple Leaf Bar, a neighborhood music joint that hasn’t opened since March 16, says the club cannot meet the requirements. The stage is narrow, making it difficult to keep performers 6 feet apart. Arrington said that for the time being the business will focus on outdoor concerts and events sponsored with other venues.
Live music has not been allowed at indoor events in New Orleans in almost a year, since the city became an early hot spot in the COVID-19 pandemic. The disease is blamed for 769 deaths in the city.