Even without parades, Mardi Gras celebrations pose COVID-19 risk, Alabama’s top doc says

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    Mobile, Alabama (WALA) — Even without parades, Mardi Gras celebrations could fuel COVID-19 transmission, Alabama’s top doctor warned Friday.

Alabama State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris told reporters that the holiday in Mobile is no different than any occasion that has the potential to draw large numbers of people.

“We always have concern when you hear about large numbers of people getting together,” he said. “And, you know, there’s nothing magic about it being a parade format vs., you know, milling around in the street together without a parade format. I mean, I think both of those certainly have the potential for disease transmission, for sure.”

The health officer’s comments about Mardi Gras were part of a wide-ranging discussion on the state’s efforts to distribute COVID-19 vaccines. Harris said the state has dramatically improved its efforts and pronounced mass vaccination clinics that the Alabama Department of Public Health set up to be a success. But he warned that vaccine supply remains limited and that most of those sites will have to shut down next week.

The city of Mobile canceled all parades during the Mardi Gras season, citing health safety concerns. But unlike New Orleans, which is closing bars in addition to shutting down parades, establishments in Mobile will be open for business on Fat Tuesday. And some expect large crowds to gather in the downtown area where streets will be closed to traffic.

Mobile Public Safety Director James Barber has suggested that if bars and restaurants are open and draw large numbers of customers, it is better to have people outside where disease transmission in harder.

Harris cast the issue as one of personal responsibility.

Harris cast the issue as one of personal responsibility.

“We just hope people will do the right thing,” he said. “We’re so close to being through with this. … We have a path forward now with vaccinations.”

Harris said the best way to avoid contracting the virus is to stay away from crowds.

“Every activity can probably be made safer, but not every activity is safe. And I would just remind people of these same basic principles we’ve had all along,” he said. “If you’re spending a long time close together with people outside your household – particularly if doing it indoors – you’re gonna to be at risk for either giving the disease to someone else or getting the disease yourself.”

Alabama continues to rank last in the nation in vaccine doses administered per capita, according to the most recent data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But Harris said the state has improved in recent weeks. He noted that the state has given shots to more than 100,000 people for four straight weeks.

“Even though Alabama got off to a slow start, we are now giving literally everything we can give,” he said. “And so, I think for the past four weeks, we’ve done as good a job as anybody in the country in terms of giving out the vaccine that we’ve been receiving.”

The mass vaccination sites run by the state have been “tremendously successful,” Harris said.

He noted that the state allocated 40,000 doses for the effort, with a goal of giving out 5,000 shots this week in each of the host cities. But he said most sites already had vaccine.

“We ended up, in most cases, giving out more than 5,000 doses at each site, and in some cases, a lot more than 5,000 doses,” he said.

The statewide total exceeded 70,000 doses, a figure that does not include Dothan because that number was not immediately available. The 22,235 given in Mobile through Thursday break down like this:

n University of South Alabama Health System as the Mobile Civic Center – 8,300.

n Providence Hospital at Dayspring Baptist Church – 3,200.

n Springhill Medical Center – 7,500.

n Mobile Infirmary at ProHealth Fitness Center – 3,325

Despite the success, though, Harris said the state achieved those numbers by redirecting Alabama’s entire allotment of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. He said the Alabama Department of Public Health has exhausted its supply.

“Clearly, this is a successful model,” he said. “We’d like to continue doing it. But we don’t at the moment have the ability to continue doing these week after week.”

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