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Coronavirus Ravages Disaster-Scarred New Orleans

Matt Haines

   NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - Southern Louisiana is no stranger to disasters
   and sudden loss of life. The region still bears the scars of Hurricane
   Katrina in 2005, the 2010 BP oil spill and Baton Rouge's catastrophic
   flooding in 2016.
   Now the region finds itself a hotspot of the coronavirus pandemic. As
   of Tuesday night, the state recorded 5,237 COVID-19 cases and 239
   deaths. The numbers are expected to spike further as Gov. John Bel
   Edwards recently noted Louisiana was experiencing "the fastest growth
   rate of confirmed cases in the world."
   Many of those deaths occurred in and around New Orleans. As the city's
   convention center is converted to a make-shift hospital and the
   municipality awaits federal aid, residents see similarities to
   disasters of the past as well as factors making this crisis unique and
   unfamiliar.
   "COVID-19 is like Katrina in slow motion," says Peter Breen, owner of a
   New Orleans barbecue restaurant he co-founded with his wife in 2004.
   Breen says it was six weeks before he could reopen after the hurricane.
   He recalls the business survived and eventually grew by catering to a
   nearby naval base and volunteers arriving in town to rebuild.
   The COVID-19 pandemic feels different, he says. "This time we have a
   growing threat with no identifiable end point. Business is down and I
   expect that to continue until whenever it is we get some good news."

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