Tag: COVID-19

Cafe du Monde reopens for in-dining service as COVID-19 lockdown restrictions are lifted

(Photo: jc.winkler | CC Flickr)
Cafe du Monde reopened on Friday for the first time since closing its doors in March due to COVID-19.

The coffee and beignet shop, located at 800 Decatur St., is now open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day of the week as part of the May 16 phased reopening and easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions in New Orleans.

Normally open 24 hours a day, the restaurant and must-see stop for tourists was forced to cease in-dining operations and use take-out or delivery services following Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s March 16 stay-at-home order issued as a measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

As the lockdown progressed, the restaurant also maintained its mail order operations by shipping coffee and beignet mix.

Cafe du Monde also ceased operations following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and received national media attention when it reopened nearly two months later.

The phased reopening is based on several conditions, including that coronavirus cases continue to drop and that people continue following public health guidelines such as social/physical distancing at least 6 feet apart from each other, according to the city’s safe reopening page.

Read more on the city’s reopening plan at ready.nola.gov.

Cafe du Monde, 800 Decatur St., 504-525-4544, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week; cafedumonde.com.

Unique Grocery on Royal Street ordered to shut down for not regulating social distancing

NOLA Ready offers free online training June 4 for hurricane evacuation volunteers

(Photo: The evacuspot located at 801 N. Rampart St. Todd Van Hoosear | CC Flickr.)

Online training for evacuation volunteers will be offered by NOLA Ready as New Orleans approaches the 2020 hurricane season, which starts on June 1.

The free online classes is for volunteers who want to help residents get out of the city and reach safety after officials issue a mandatory evacuation order.

The training will be held on June 4 from 6 to 7 p.m. Registration is found on Eventbrite.

An “above normal” hurricane season is predicted this year, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasting 13 to 19 named storms with winds 39 miles per hour or more, including between three and six storms with sustained winds of at least 111 MPH.

The city estimates 35,000 New Orleans residents will be unable to evacuate ahead of a dangerous storm. In 2019, Tropical Storm Barry brought more than six inches of rain on July 10, flooding parts of the French Quarter and temporarily disrupted transportation systems before reaching Category 1 hurricane status on July 13.

Volunteers who complete the introductory training will join the Medical Reserve Corps and be assigned to help people board buses at one of 17 “evacuspot[s]”—including five for seniors—or bus stops designated as evacuation locations where volunteers will assist with boarding and registration.

Evacuees are then taken and triaged at the Smoothie King Center, where they will be taken to state or emergency shelters out of the city.

Evacuspots are designated by a stick figure statue raising its arm. The closest one to the French Quarter is located at 801 N. Rampart St. in front the entrance to Louis Armstrong Park.

All staff, volunteers and evacuees will be provided with personal protective equipment and will be required to socially/physically distance due to COVID-19.

For more information on the hurricane and tropical storm preparedness, visit NOLA Ready’s website.

Unique Grocery on Royal Street ordered to shut down for not regulating social distancing

(Photo: Paul Sableman | CC Flickr)
Unique Grocery store, located at 127 Royal St., was issued a “social distancing” cease and desist order from the city. It’s unclear when the order was issued, although one resident captured a photo of the order posted to the front door on Thursday.

The store was declared “dangerous and unsafe” because people “cannot maintain social distancing,” according to the city notice, “cease desist operations until operational plan.”

A city spokeswoman didn’t respond to emails seeking comment on Friday.

The city recently, on May 16, entered “Phase One” reopening as coronavirus restrictions are eased for “low-risk” businesses, while still being required to maintain public health guidelines, including limiting occupancy.

The Department of Safety and Permits is tasked with enforcing Phase One requirements.

Visit nola.ready.gov for a full list of reopening guidelines.

A Vieux From Toulouse

Art by Eric T. Styles

Does anyone who endorses this closure realize that if it continues for much longer, we won’t have any jobs to go back to?

Each business is still paying tens of thousands in rent every month. Commercial landlords are not cutting any breaks to our employers, the water bills are still ridiculously high for empty buildings and there is still insurance, taxes and 12-month licenses that need to be paid for.

The only aid the Federal Government is offering to small businesses is to cover payroll for employees not laid off. That won’t help if your rent is $20,000 a month. The big bankrolls made by local businesses during Mardi Gras are eaten up by staying afloat over the long, slow summer months.

Now, that money is quickly being depleted before we even hit June. We now have a number of establishments that are gone and will never reopen. Every week that ticks by will add to that number.

“Let me sit out the summer collecting unemployment and stimulus checks, COOL!!”

A short-sighted, selfish and stupid objective. We in the service industry struggle over the course of the summer; it’s the nature of the beast. A smart Quarter Rat does the same as their employers, saving up money from the busy times for the slow times. Longtime service workers down here know that simple strategy. Any one who wants to see the closure to continue probably is hoping for a permanent universal basic income to result from all of this. A complete lack of understanding for simple economics will place them back in their parent’s basements.

FUCK TRUMP!
Let’s not ignore the effect of a heated and wide chasm of political divide in all of this. “The worst the economy gets, the worst Trump’s chances are for re-election. If he tweets open it up, I’ll scream keep it closed.” I hate the Captain of this ship, I hope it sinks. In fact, let me poke holes in all of the life rafts so he’ll look even worst. I would expect that from his political adversaries, Governors and Mayors whose lives really won’t be impacted very much by an economic collapse. They can exploit such hardships for political gain. It’s easy for a Hollywood celebrity to say keep the world closed from their $20 million mansion. It’s not a rational idea from the vast majority of paycheck-to-paycheck Americans.

The big corporate places may have the capital to tie them over for several months, but the mom and pop places WILL go under. We see the crowds and we ring up thousands of dollars every night for our bosses believing that they are rolling around in piles of money in the back office.

Rent, payroll, insurance, utility and supply costs per month is more than most of us make in a year. So when all of the free stimulus money from the government goes away, go look for your next job. All that will be available will be the huge corporate establishments who will treat you like shit and be able to do so because there are two dozen other Quarter Rats wanting your job.

Please spare us the posts about how much you can’t wait to return to work and then post later about how dangerous the virus supposedly is. Every time you share a hyperbolic fear meme about COVID-19 is, or an orange man bad narrative, you are digging your own graves.

Bourbon Pub Parade files class-action lawsuit after insurance company denies coronavirus-related claim

A Bourbon Street nightclub on Monday sued its insurance company for alleged breach of contract after a claim for damages caused by a forced shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic was denied.

Bourbon Pub Parade, located at 801 Bourbon St., sued Nautilus Insurance for breach of contract after the company denied to cover a claim for ongoing damages caused by a city order ceasing business operations to prevent coronavirus spread, according to a federal lawsuit filed on May 4.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell issued a March 16 proclamation ordering certain businesses, including bars, to close as a measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus. This includes the vast majority of businesses in the French Quarter, which relies heavily on tourism income.

While the actual economic impact from the business closures has yet to be fully quantified, tourists in New Orleans spent $9.1 billion in 2018, with much of it driven by leisure- and work-related travel, according to the city’s Tourism Marketing Corporation.

French Quarter Festival, Satchmo Summerfest canceled due to COVID-19

“The damages [Bourbon Pub Parade] has sustained were not ’caused by or resulting from’ COVID-19,” the lawsuit states. “Rather, the proximate cause of…losses were the precautionary measures taken by the mayor of New Orleans and the Louisiana governor to prevent spread of COVID-19 in the future.”

The insurance purchased by Bourbon Pub Parade included an “all-risk” policy that provided coverage for all risks, unless the risk was specifically excluded, according to the lawsuit, adding that the policy includes coverage for business interruption, extra expense, civil authority and extended business income.

While the policy doesn’t provide an exclusion for losses stemming from a pandemic, it does exclude losses “caused by or resulting from any virus, bacterium or other microorganism that induces or is capable of inducing physical distress, illness or disease,” according to the lawsuit.

Nautilus denied the insurance claim on two grounds: first, that the bar and surrounding property didn’t suffer any physical damage; and second, the policy’s virus and bacteria exclusion.

Bourbon Pub Parade, however, said Nautilus’ reasons are erroneous because of the impact coronavirus is having on physical spaces throughout the world.

Citing coronavirus studies, the bar said contaminated surfaces could serve as a potential source of transmission.

“Based on what is understood about the way COVID-19 is transmitted, it is clear that the insured premises and surrounding areas have sustained direct physical losses within the meaning of the policy,” said Bourbon Pub Parade.

Additionally, the bar said losses aren’t directly attributed to coronavirus, but Cantrell’s order forcing it to close.

In the lawsuit, Bourbon Pub Parade requests a jury trial and class-action certification, which could involve other plaintiffs that are denied similar claims.

Read the lawsuit below:

Bourbon-Pub-Parade