New Orleans (United States) (AFP)
As the Delta variant strengthens its grip on the United States, all the lights turn orange, or even red.
Louisiana has turned scarlet, with 126 cases per 100,000 inhabitants declared on average each day, forcing some cities to introduce a health pass.
Hospitals have been struggling to absorb the flow of patients for several weeks.
The caregivers are at their wit's end.
After the spring break, it was again necessary to make indoor masks mandatory.
And after New York and San Francisco, New Orleans is preparing to implement a health pass from Monday.
"No more choice," Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Thursday.
"The situation is desperate and we simply cannot wait any longer."
It will therefore be necessary to present proof of vaccination or a negative test to go to a bar, a restaurant, a gym or even participate in large outdoor events.
A temporary vaccination site in a parking lot in the district of Tremé, in New Orleans, August 14, 2021 Emily Kask AFP
Faced with the city's decision, residents show two faces.
There are those who resign themselves and drag their doubts to a vaccination site to receive their first dose.
And those who, in the evening, nevertheless converge on the French Vieux Carré, the epicenter of the festive life of the largest agglomeration of this South American state.
- A decisive health pass -
This vaccination site, installed in a car park in the Tremé district, devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, also houses a test center.
As a symbol of the health situation in Louisiana, where cases are exploding and vaccination is lagging behind, dozens of cars crowd screening side but the three members of the National Guard in charge of injections find the time long.
Despite an increase in immunizations since mid-July, only 37.9% of Louisiana's population is fully vaccinated, compared to 50.6% across the United States.
A man is vaccinated at the request of his employer, August 14, 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana Emily Kask AFP
For Justin, 34, and Jen, 26, the health pass was decisive.
This Florida couple said they were "addicted" to the gym and couldn't bear the thought of no longer having access to it.
"It's clear that it helped me decide," says this computer engineer.
He and his partner, makeup artist with orange hair, were waiting for the FDA, the US drug agency, to give the final green light to vaccines, which have so far only received emergency authorization.
Jenny, an immigrant who does not speak English, is immunized to keep her job in the kitchens of a restaurant that requires proof of vaccination from its employees.
Richard, who has come to be tested before being vaccinated in a few days, does so to protect his son.
- "Continue to live" -
This is not the first time that the Covid-19 has brought Louisiana to its knees.
The first wave, particularly violent, had only worsened after Mardi Gras, which sees every year at the end of winter a human tide invade the historic district of Vieux Carré.
Bourbon Street, the heart of festive life in New Orleans, August 13, 2021 Emily Kask AFP
In 2021, the city canceled big events and banned gatherings, but as the Delta variant ravages the southern United States, the Vieux Carré does not bleed.
In the evening, hundreds of night owls flock there, and masks are a rarity.
Its main pedestrian artery, Bourbon Street, has regained color, like the faux pearl necklaces thrown into the street, and those long fluorescent plastic glasses filled with cocktails, which can be swallowed in the middle of the street, a rare occurrence in America.
Green cap of the Celtics team screwed on the head and sunglasses on the nose while the sun has long since plunged behind the horizon, Niko, 30, recognizes "that the Covid still exists, that's why that I wear my mask everywhere, but at the same time, we have to go on living. "
Like him, Sherry Carpenter, who came from Arkansas with her two daughters, does not want to hear about the vaccine.
Mask in hand, she also rejects the whole idea of the sanitary pass.
"I think that everyone should have the freedom to choose," launches this 53-year-old cleaning lady, who tries to draw a parallel with the right to abortion.
Waitresses offer shots of alcohol in test tubes on Bourbon Street on August 13 in New Orleans Emily Kask AFP
From Monday, in any case, New Orleans will have to find its balance between the festivities of the Vieux Carré and the dangerous pitfalls of the Delta variant.
© 2021 AFP