| By DREW BROACH | Deputy metro editor |
COVID COMEBACK: As Louisianans and visitors alike gather for fireworks displays, cookouts and a weekend full of crowded events such as the Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans, health professionals urge caution: There’s a rising sixth wave of COVID-19 infections. (Want more health and health care news? Subscribe to The Louisiana Checkup newsletter.) SEE AND BE SEEN: After halting for two years during the coronavirus pandemic, the Essence Fest returned Thursday to New Orleans, and so did the thousands of guests, social media influencers, pop stars and beauty and fashion brands that make the sprawling celebration - this year themed “It’s the Black Joy For Me!” - so special. Hotel occupancy rates were hovering at 93 percent for Saturday night, according to an informal survey by New Orleans & Co. of 26,000 hotel rooms in and near downtown. (Subscribe to the NOLA Business Insider newsletter.) STAY PUT: As sick and elderly nursing home patients grew septic and died in a warehouse after Hurricane Ida, caregivers pleaded with nursing home owner Bob Dean to send them more help and let them move residents elsewhere. But Dean insisted that, short of cardiac arrest, they not move a single person from the warehouse, according to newly released text messages in Dean's arrest warrants. (Want more stories like this? Subscribe to our investigative journalism newsletter.) Thanks for starting your weekend with us. Check the latest news all day on NOLA.com. D.B. | 