Pandemic: A snapshot of life in New Orleans
Dewon Scott performs to empty streets outside the shuttered Café du Monde, as New Orleans falls under "stay at home" measures.
In April 2020, award-winning photojournalist Chris Granger captured a moment in time in the Big Easy, when the city became subsumed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Last Day
Sterling Constant, a waiter for 53 years at Antoine's Restaurant, straightens his bow tie on his last night of work, before the historic French Quarter establishment closes indefinitely because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Streetcar
New Orleans during the coronavirus pandemic.
Nuptials
Alex Cotant and his new wife, Darla, of Mid-City, had elaborate wedding plans: there were to be dozens of out-of-town guests in attendance, and a second-line parade to their wedding reception near City Park. All of that changed with the coronavirus. Instead, on April 4, they improvised a wedding reception on their front porch, with bags of chips and hand sanitizer nearby, before dancing their first dance on the sidewalk in front of their home, accompanied by Mike Doussan, a musician who didn't know the couple but paid a surprise visit to play acoustic guitar and sing.
Amzie Adams
New Orleans icon Amzie Adams – a multimedia artist, painter, poet, musician and actor – walks by himself, with top hat and skeleton cane, during the coronavirus pandemic.
Expectation
Lacie Lister, who is nine months pregnant, kisses her daughter, Eleanor, 2, in front of their home in the Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans. Lister was concerned about how the coronavirus might affect her C-section scheduled for a few days after this picture was taken.
Warning
Graffiti under a bridge in downtown New Orleans, Monday, March 30, 2020.
Frontline Response
Louisiana National Guard medics prepare to administer coronavirus screenings on opening day of the first drive-thru testing site in New Orleans, set up in the parking lot of the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts, near the French Quarter.
Drive-Thru
Drive-thru COVID-19 screening begins in south Louisiana.
Confessional
A priest at St. Dominic Church keeps a safe distance during confession, which has been moved outdoors.
Rebirth
Times-Picayune/NOLA.com writer Keith Spera said it best: "The Rebirth Brass Band's Phil Frazier is no stranger to rebirth." That's because the tuba player survived two strokes during the past decade, and now he's overcome another adversity – the novel coronavirus. Here, Frazier fist-bumps Linda Tapp Porter of the Lady Blackjumpers Social Aid and Pleasure Club.
Line
A food line stretches for blocks along Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. in New Orlean's Central City neighborhood, as people keep a social distance because of the coronavirus.
Boom Mic
Keeping a safe distance, Jennifer Crockett (right), with WDSU, holds a long boom mic toward Dr. Augusto Acho with the LSU Cancer Center, as he and Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto (left) discuss blood donations, at the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office administration building in Harvey, April 8, 2020. Several JPSO deputies who have recovered from COVID-19 donated blood samples to assist with ongoing research in coordination with the National Cancer Institute.
Chat
To make the most of Louisiana's "stay at home" order, Lynn Hoth (left) and her daughters, Emma and Adelle, started having candlelight dinners on their front porch in the Uptown neighborhood of New Orleans. The spring weather has been lovely lately, and the family can be found on their porch nearly every evening with music playing softly from a radio.
A Sign
New Orleans has a habit of boarding up windows in preparation for hurricanes; some stores also boarded up for the COVID-19 shutdown. The boards often are an easy target for inspirational messages. Here, a masked bike rider rolls down Royal Street in the French Quarter.
Musician
Clarinetist Tim Laughlin has been performing 30-minute evening concerts from his French Quarter balcony during the coronavirus shutdown. He said he was getting restless confined in his house, so he began practicing his clarinet on his second-story balcony. Soon, neighbors began to come out on their balconies to listen to him play.
T-Shirt With a Message
New Orleanians have a tradition of printing inspiring, funny or sarcastic T-shirts during stressful times. This shirt, seen in a shop window in the French Quarter, sums up the current mood perfectly.
Equestrian
Horse-riding groups are often featured in New Orleans parades. When it is not Carnival season, many riders enjoy taking their horses out around town. This rider was on an evening jaunt along St. Charles Avenue.
Tribute
The Mercedes-Benz Superdome is lit up in blue as part of the global #LightItBlue initiative, in honor of millions of essential workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic.
Self-Portrait
A staff photographer with the Times-Picayune, New Orleans Advocate and NOLA.com. photojournalist Chris Granger has also had his work published in nine books as well as in Travel & Leisure, Food & Wine, Saveur, Garden & Gun, Sunset, Southern Living, and other publications. A Louisiana State University graduate, Granger was part of the team of Times-Picayune journalists that won two Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the storm's aftermath.
For more info:
chrisgranger.com
Chris Granger at NOLA.com
Follow cgranger on Instagram
Edited by CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan
See also:
GALLERY: New Orleans, before and after lockdown by Sophia Germer
GALLERY: Pandemic: A snapshot of life in New York City by Peter Turnley