“I would say the vaccine played a really big role because it helped people feel good around other people,” Gabourel said.

NEW ORLEANS – Reservations fill up quickly these days with Flambeaux Bicycle Tours on Rampart Street in the French Quarter.

“They’re just coming out in droves,” said owner Eric Gabourel.

It’s a lot different from the end of last year, when Gabourel wasn’t sure the bike tires would spin again.

“Last October we panicked and wondered if we would survive.”

Now he has to turn people away.

“I would say the vaccine played a really big role because it helped people feel good around other people,” Gabourel said.

When people are more comfortable, state and medical leaders are not as comfortable with the state’s overall vaccination rate. According to the Louisiana Department of Health, approximately 30 percent of the state’s population is fully vaccinated. Much of the south falls below 32 percent, according to the CDC.

“To get back to normal, we really need this,” said Dr. Susan Hassig, epidemiologist at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University.

Dr. Hassig said that low vaccination rates not only scare off potential visitors, but can also lead to a centralized spread of COVID.

“The reality that I think the people of Louisiana need to realize is if the rest of the country is 65 or 70 percent vaccinated and this region along the Gulf Coast doesn’t, the entire virus experience will be here,” he told Dr . Hateful.

In New Orleans, where 51 percent of the population in question is vaccinated, parts of the hotel and tourism industries are also absent from the city on weekends, according to Kelly Schulz of New Orleans and Company.

“The international visitors, the congresses, the small hotel meetings during the week and the cruise ship passengers are things that we still miss and we are working hard to get them back,” said Schulz.

Schulz said high vaccination rates, especially among tourism workers, mean competitive advantage.

“That’s what will make people feel safe getting on planes, taking road trips, getting on trains, and actually booking trips to New Orleans,” Schulz said.

Back on Rampart Street, Gabourel says, although he’s not entirely normal, he’s grateful that the pedals are finally moving again.

“I feel like people were in their cocoons for so long that they actually got wings, and as soon as they saw some light they broke out,” Gabourel said.

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