Susan Hassig

New Orleans Faces a Virus Nightmare, and Mardi Gras May Be Why

Dr. Susan Hassig, an epidemiologist and associate professor at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, said there were other likely reasons, beyond Mardi Gras, that may explain why New Orleans has been hit so hard — the dense, compact nature of the city; its tourism industry; its port, which connects it to the world; and the way people connect culturally.

“Everybody talks to everybody, which means you stop and you have a conversation and then you move on and have a conversation with somebody else,” said Dr. Hassig, who rode in a Mardi Gras parade with the Krewe of Muses this year.

‘Quarantine fatigue’: Researchers find more Americans venturing out against coronavirus stay-at-home orders

Some people also might have mistakenly believed they could safely start bending the stay-at-home rules, experts say, when some governors began to publicly announce how and when their economies would begin to reopen. “People can feel it’s coming, so they get more antsy,” said Susan Hassig, an associate professor of epidemiology at Tulane University. “It’s kind of like a kid before Christmas.”

...Hassig, of Tulane, said the data is interesting because the United States has such limited experience requiring residents to stay home for lengthy periods. Any quarantines typically are small enough that local health officers can check in daily to monitor people’s symptoms and encourage them to stay isolated. Moreover, she said, most last a maximum 14 to 21 days. “We can usually reduce the likelihood of substantial quarantine fatigue,” Hassig said. “. . . On this massive scale, the support and encouragement can get lost.”

The risk levels of everyday activities like dining out, going to the gym, and getting a haircut, according to an infectious-disease expert

We spoke with Dr. Susan Hassig, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, about the risks of going out to eat, gathering with friends, and opening mail.

While different activities are, by nature, riskier than others, you should wear a mask when possible and try to keep a distance of 6 feet from others. Things like social distancing and wearing a mask (or the lack thereof) can alter risk level significantly. Here's what you should consider about various activities as restrictions start to lift across the country.

State record-keeping on vaccinations leads to patchwork approach

Susan Hassig, an associate professor in the epidemiology department at Tulane University, said Louisiana worked to connect providers with its immunization registry program as COVID-19 vaccines began rolling out.

But she said one limitation of the system is that it does not have a census of all Louisiana residents, so it is only aware of those who have been vaccinated.

Hassig, who helped advise the state on its rollout plan, said even though the state’s system may be somewhat different from others, many are similar in their design and objective.

“The lack of uniformity and transparency in a lot of our information systems is challenging, but it reflects the fact that we've got 50 states plus the territories and they each do things their own way,” Hassig said, adding that for privacy purposes, state data is not pooled together and one state cannot see another’s information.