By Melanie Eversley

Officials in New Orleans are studying COVID-19 numbers and debating whether Mardi Gras, the final bacchanalian celebration before Lent, will take place in 2022.

City officials are meeting with krewe leaders to discuss the possibilities of the celebration taking place March 1, as scheduled. 

“We remain optimistic, and certainly Mardi Gras is something that we very much want to come back just like everybody in the city,” Beau Tidwell, director of communications for Mayor LaToya Cantrell, said during a press conference this week. 

The Big Easy has seen a decline in cases and a rise in vaccinations, with the average daily number of cases now at 58, WWNO reports.