Carnival in time of Covid: How virus test kits are part of the parade

A file photo of Sophie Woodruff, a member of the Glambeaux group, marching in the Krewe of Muses' Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, the United States. This year, Covid test kits will be handed out to revellers during the parade. Photo: AP

Mardi Gras revellers, accustomed to catching beads, small toys or other trinkets tossed by parade float riders during Carnival season, were able to snag a new parade favour on Thursday (Feb 24): rapid Covid-19 tests.

As Carnival season nears its raucous pre-Lenten climax on Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday, March 1) next week, the handing out of tests during the Krewe of Muses parade is emblematic of the city’s effort to avoid a surge of Covid-19 infections, hospitalisations and deaths while reviving cherished, and economically vital, Carnival events.

Those events were largely silenced in 2021 after officials realised the 2020 celebration had been a "superspreader” event that made Louisiana an early Southern hot spot for the disease.