The Latest: New Orleans shuts bars, bans takeout booze sales

NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans’ mayor is shutting down the city’s bars because of rising coronavirus numbers and is also forbidding restaurants to sell alcoholic drinks to go.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Friday that some lines of people waiting to buy drinks were so long they became “a gathering in themselves, and no mask-wearing and the like.”

Cantrell says the city is seeing daily increases in confirmed coronavirus cases about double its threshold of 50 a day for more relaxed rules. The rule against take-out sales of alcoholic drinks takes effect at 6 a.m. Saturday.

The mayor’s orders came as the Louisiana Department of Health reported more than 2,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases, for a total of 103,734. New Orleans’ total rose 103, to 9,752.

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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Arizona reports nearly 3,400 new daily cases

— Enhanced federal aid for millions of unemployed Americans is set to expire.

— Dr. Birx: Must slow virus surge in south so it doesn’t head to northern states

— England starts new rules with face-coverings required to enter banks, stores and food shops.

— More students are frustrated by college plans to keep housing payments, even if the campuses must shut down again and go online in the fall.

— Nearly half of Americans whose families experienced a layoff during the coronavirus pandemic now believe those jobs are lost. That’s according to a new poll from The Associated Press- NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

— South Korea will allow baseball fans to return to the stands beginning Sunday and soccer fans can return Aug. 1. The teams can fill only 10% of the seats. Fans will be screened for fevers and must wear masks.

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