NEW ORLEANS — With new COVID-19 cases surging in Louisiana, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival won’t be returning this year after all, organizers said Sunday.
The festival, traditionally held in the spring, had been scheduled to run Oct. 8-10 and Oct. 15-17 after being canceled last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
But organizers cited “current exponential growth” of new COVID-19 cases in the city and region, as well as an ongoing public health emergency, in announcing that the festival will not occur as planned.
They said next year’s dates are April 29-May 8.
Jazz Fest celebrates the indigenous music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana. The music encompasses nearly every style imaginable: blues, R&B, gospel, Cajun, Zydeco, Afro-Caribbean, folk, Latin, rock, rap, contemporary and traditional jazz, country, bluegrass and everything in between.
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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:
— To shake hands or not? An age-old human gesture now in limbo
— Erratic pandemic Olympics come to an end
— Weary U.S. businesses confront new round of mask mandates
— Once lagging, Europe catches up to the US in vaccinations
— Iran reports most daily virus cases, death, of pandemic
— American motorists zooming along as summer highway travel peaks
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— Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
MIAMI — Ready to party at one of South Beach’s most glamorous nightclubs? Then roll up your sleeves. LIV is offering free COVID vaccines outside the Miami club where high rollers spend up to $20,000 just for a table.
The star-studded nightclub, where Super Bowl champs celebrate at parties that have inspired lyrics from Drake and Kanye West, set up pop-up COVID vaccine sites over the weekend to entice the young demographic.
The Sunshine State set another record high over the weekend. On Saturday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 23,903 new COVID-19 cases for Friday. That tops the previous day’s record of 22,783 new cases.
Clubs LIV and Story were shuttered for roughly a year during the pandemic and re-opened back in April. Owner David Grutman, the king of South Beach’s night life scene, who also owns a restaurant and hotel with Pharrell, said “We are excited, we want to stay open, and we know the only way to make that happen is if people get vaccinated, so we want to make it as accessible as possible.”
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NEW YORK -- Moviegoing, once expected to be closer to semi-normal levels by now, continues to be battered by the pandemic, the delta variant of the coronavirus and in-home streaming.
The latest casualty: James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad,” a critically acclaimed, carnage-ridden would-be smash that disappointed with $26.5 million in estimated ticket sales.
The Warner Bros. film, which was released simultaneously on HBO Max, could claim one pandemic record: the top R-rated opening. But “The Suicide Squad,” featuring the “Guardians of the Galaxy” director’s first DC Comics film, had seemed poised to be a bigger hit — and may have been if the delta variant wasn’t keeping a lot of moviegoers home.
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LONDON — Britain’s competition watchdog says it will look into the cost of COVID-19 testing for travelers after Health Secretary Sajid Javid complained that high prices for the government-mandated tests were preventing some people from going on vacation.
PCR tests required for most travelers average about 75 pounds ($104) each, or 300 pounds for a family of four, but many firms charge significantly more. Prices quoted by providers listed on the government website range from 17 pounds ($24) to 250 pounds ($347).
Javid said Sunday that he had asked the Competition and Markets Authority to crack down on “unfair market practices” by test providers.
“People should be able to go on holiday, whether it’s to see family or just to relax, without fearing excessive fees for PCR tests,’’ he said on Twitter.
The watchdog has the authority to intervene directly when it uncovers unfair practices but it can also provide advice directly to ministers so they can take swifter action.
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PHOENIX — Arizona health officials reported more than 2,000 additional COVID-19 cases for the fifth consecutive day Sunday as virus-related hospitalizations continued to rise.
The state’s coronavirus dashboard reported 2,639 additional cases and 12 deaths, increasing the pandemic totals to 946,054 cases and 18,388 known deaths.
Health officials had reported 2,653 cases Saturday with 34 deaths.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases nearly doubled over the past two weeks from 1,145.1 on July 22 to 2,227.6 on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
The rolling average of daily deaths more than doubled during the same period, rising from 6.3 to 16.9.
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TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisia has launched its largest COVID-19 vaccination campaign as the country faces a surge of cases.
Authorities aim to vaccinate over 1 million of people aged 40 and over in only one day, compared with 30,000 to 60,000 a day previously.
In a televised address Sunday, President Kaïs Saied called on people to get the shot “so that life gets back to normal in Tunisia.”
Authorities provided free buses for people going to vaccination centers, many set up in schools.
Over the past weeks, several millions of doses have been delivered to Tunisia from other nations including the United States, France and Italy.
The director of the Pasteur Institute of Tunis, Hachemi Louzir, who is leading the campaign, said Tunisia is to receive more than 8 million of doses by September and hopes to be able to vaccinate about 50% of the population.
Tunisia, with a population of 12 million, has reported more deaths per capita in the pandemic than any African country. More than 20,000 Tunisians have died from the virus. So far 9% of the population has been fully vaccinated.
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WILMINGTON, Del. — The U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert hopes the Food and Drug Administration will begin giving full approval to the coronavirus vaccine by month’s end. And Dr. Anthony Fauci predicts the potential move would spur a wave of vaccine mandates in the private sector as well as schools and universities.
The FDA has only granted emergency-use approval of the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The agency is expected to soon give full approval to Pfizer.
The Biden administration has said the federal government will not mandate vaccinations beyond the federal workforce, but is increasingly urging state and local government as well as businesses to consider such mandates.
Fauci told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that “mandates at the local level need to be done” to help curb the spread of the virus.
Fauci’s comments come as the Biden administration is weighing what levers it can push to encourage more unvaccinated Americans to get their shots as the delta variant continues to surge through much of the United States.
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WASHINGTON -- Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy says he disagrees with GOP governors in Florida and Texas who are blocking mask mandates even as COVID-19 cases spike higher.
Cassidy, a Louisiana physician, said Sunday that “local officials should be listened to” if hospital ICUs in a community are full because of rising infections and school officials want to implement safeguards such as mask-wearing ahead of students returning in the fall.
He told CNN’s “State of the Union” that he doesn’t agree with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or Texas Gov. Greg Abbott because as a conservative, he doesn’t want “to top down from Washington, D.C.,” and “I don’t want to top down from a governor’s office.”
In May, Abbott issued an executive order prohibiting local governments from imposing mask mandates. DeSantis in July issued an order barring school districts from requiring children to wear masks for in-person instruction.
Infections are soaring in those states and elsewhere due to the highly contagious delta variant. While officials stress vaccinations as the best protection, children under 12 are not yet eligible.
President Joe Biden last week criticized DeSantis and other officials who have moved to block the reimposition of mask mandates, calling on resistant Republican governors to “get out of the way” of vaccine rules.
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia says it will ease lockdown restrictions for people who are fully vaccinated as the government seeks to allay public anger against perceived mismanagement of the pandemic.
Daily infections breached 20,000 for the first time Thursday despite a lockdown since June 1. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said Sunday the government has decided to provide some leeway for those who have been fully vaccinated as “many are faced with pandemic fatigue.”
From Tuesday, spouses can cross districts to meet each other and parents whose children are studying in other states.
Muhyiddin said local tourism, non-contact outdoor sports and exercise, as well as dine-in at eateries will also be allowed in at least eight states and areas where cases have dipped.
So far, 35% of the country’s population has been fully vaccinated, and Muhyiddin said this should rise to 50% by end August.
Malaysia recorded 18,688 new coronavirus cases Sunday to push the country’s tally to 1.26 million. Daily deaths hit a new record of 360, raising the toll to 10,749.
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RIYADH — Saudi Arabia says it is giving half a million riyals, the equivalent of $133,000, to the family of each medical worker who died fighting the coronavirus pandemic in the kingdom.
An announcement made Sunday said the financial award would apply to all health care workers who died as a result of the virus, including non-Saudis and personnel who worked in private sector settings.
The Health Ministry has not said publicly how many of the kingdom’s 8,320 pandemic deaths involved health workers.
Saudi Arabia, which has a population of 30 million, has administered nearly 30 million vaccine doses. The kingdom is currently reported fewer than 1,000 new cases a day.
Early on in the pandemic, King Salman ordered the government to cover the cost of medical treatment for COVID-19 patients in the country. The kingdom has recorded close to 533,000 confirmed cases overall, and currently has about 1,400 considered critical.
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PORTLAND, Maine — American motorists put the pedal to the metal during the pandemic, and police are worried as roads get busy with the final stretch of summer travel.
The latest data shows the number of highway deaths in 2020 was the greatest in more than a decade even though cars and trucks drove fewer miles due to the pandemic.
“Summer is an incredibly dangerous time. And it culminates with Labor Day, that last hurrah,” said Pam Shadel Fischer of the Governors Highway Safety Association.
Traffic data indicates the higher death toll was related to higher average speeds in conjunction with more of those on the roads driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol and a slight decline in seatbelt use.
Tickets issued by the California Highway Patrol for speeding in excess of 100 mph from January to June were nearly double pre-pandemic levels.
In New York state, the percentage of fatalities for which speeding was the primary cause and the total number of speeding tickets grew from January through June, compared to the year before the pandemic, officials said.
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JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says people are rushing to get a third vaccine shot as protection from the surging delta variant of the coronavirus.
Bennett pointed to government statistics Sunday showing that more than 420,000 Israelis older than 60 have received a booster shot, more than a third of the total targeted population. Bennett said the number is expected to grow to half a million people by the end of the day.
The prime minister spoke after a weekly Cabinet meeting. Israel is seeing a rising number of people hospitalized with COVID-19, almost all of them infected with the highly contagious delta variant. The government has reinstituted its mask mandate for indoor settings and is weighing more restrictions.
Israel became a world leader in vaccinating against the virus during its initial public campaign, About 5.4 million of the country’s 9.3 million people have received two vaccine doses.
The World Health Organization in recent days called for a moratorium on administering booster shots to help preserve supplies so people in poorer countries can get their first doses.
