NEW ORLEANS - Coronavirus-related limits on access to Bourbon Street, shuttered bars and frigid weather all were expected to prevent what the city usually craves at the end of Mardi Gras season — streets and businesses jam-packed with revelers.Parades and parties on Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) and the days leading up to the annual pre-Lenten bash usually draw more than a million people to the streets.But parades were canceled and Mayor LaToya Cantrell recently ordered bars closed.
Even bars that had been allowed to operate as restaurants with "conditional" food permits were shuttered for five days that began Friday.