Rising Covid Cases Force Organizers to Cancel New Orleans Jazz Fest

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has been canceled, officials said Sunday, citing the “exponential growth of new Covid cases in New Orleans and the region.”

The festival, normally held in the spring, had been rescheduled for Oct. 8 to 17 in the hope that vaccinations would make the event possible. Ticket holders will receive emails soon outlining refund options.

Coronavirus infections hit a record high this month in Louisiana, with the state reporting an average of 4,600 new cases a day in the past week, according to a New York Times database. Hospitalizations are up 140 percent to a daily average of 2,037, and deaths have risen 193 percent to an average of 30 a day.

Louisiana reinstated indoor mask mandates this month to try to help contain infections that have been fueled by the state’s low vaccination rate and the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus. Only 37 percent of the state’s population, including children under 12 who are not yet eligible for inoculation, has been fully vaccinated, according to New York Times data.