On Sunday, Feb. 23, two days after the Zulu Ball, President Trump set the tone for the country, the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans when he said at a news conference: “We have it very much under control in the country.” On Monday, Feb. 24, when an estimated 200,000 people spent the day at Lundi Gras, sponsored by the Zulu club, enjoying a smorgasbord of New Orleans food and music on three stages at Woldenberg Park along the Mississippi River, he reiterated on Twitter that the disease was “under control.” According to an internal memo, however, Trump had already been warned by his own trade adviser about the potential of half a million deaths and an economic hemorrhage of trillions of dollars as a result of the pandemic.

 

‘A Terrible Price’: The Deadly Racial Disparities of Covid-19 in America
For the Zulu club, a black social organization in New Orleans, Mardi Gras was a joy. The coronavirus made it a tragedy.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/magazine/racial-disparities-covid-19.html