Tulane sees COVID spike and a late hit on Demario Davis

The Lunch Line: Tulane COVID cases, 2021 restaurant changes and a late Demario Davis tackle

CASES RISE AT TULANE: After a long period of low COVID cases, numbers have started to rise at Tulane University. In response, school officials are giving students the option of finishing the semester remotely. According to the school's dashboard, reports of COVID began creeping higher last week, going from a handful a day in early December to more than 20 per day more recently. Tulane's student and staff have a vaccination rate above 95% and the school tests regularly. Still, the surge is a sign that with omicron already detected in Louisiana, more cases are likely ahead.

2021 RESTAURANT CLOSURES, AND WHAT'S TO COME: Ian McNulty sizes up the 2021 New Orleans area restaurant scene, and the historic or otherwise significant closures that came to pass this year. The long doldroms of the pandemic, coupled with Hurricane Ida, meant a rash of closures, though some spots will see new openings in their place. Among the losses: Upperline, the Uptown institution founded and run by JoAnn Clevenger; The Trolley Stop Café on St. Charles Avenue; Avery's on Tulane and others.

A LATE HIT: Demario Davis is usually the one doing the tackling, but after the Saints victory over the New York Jets Sunday, Davis found himself on the other end of things.

All this and more in today's Lunch Line. Check the latest news all day on NOLA.com.

Jerry