The past several months have been devastating to the live music scene in New Orleans and consequently to the livelihoods of musicians especially those that play music for a living. New Orleans has a rich history of world class music and music performance; it seems unimaginable to walk down Frenchmen and not hear music being trumpeted from the street corners. Walking down Bourbon Street in 2020 seems eerily derived from the classic song by The Specials—“Ghost Town”—and the accompanying lyrics “All the clubs have been closed down.” As the pandemic grinds on, with its bar and club closures, it is becoming clear that not being able to play music is becoming financially untenable. This is why I am imploring New Orleans musicians to candidly support public health messaging however you can. The impact that your influence has is immeasurable and may help to get life back to pre-COVID “normal,” as much as that can exist.

I am a practicing infectious diseases physician and epidemiologist in New Orleans. Prior to the lockdown I had a weekly gig playing bass (upright and electric) for a rockabilly trio, and am the founder of the community radio station 102.3FM WHIV-LP. While I am a physician and public health practitioner first, my love for music and performance is my second passion. As the executive director for 102.3FM WHIV-LP, I have been committed to prioritizing New Orleans’ music on our radio waves, especially those with a message of human rights and social justice.

Let me take a moment to explain the COVID-19 landscape. The SARS-CoV-2 virus, the organism that causes COVID-19, is a brand-new virus that emerged spontaneously in 2019. And while it is related to common cold viruses, it is far more virulent: this means high-powered. It is how an acoustic guitar is related to an electric guitar; they both look alike, and they are both called guitars, however one is way more powerful than the other. The most important point to consider is that this is a new or “novel” virus, which means that all of us are susceptible to this virus. Furthermore, those that are most likely to die from COVID-19 are people who are advanced in age or who have co-morbidities (such as diabetes or hypertension)—you know, like our parents or grandparents.

Here is another stark truth about COVID-19: it not only disproportionately affects the elderly, it also affects those that are most vulnerable amongst us. By vulnerable, I mean those that are at the lowest rungs of the socio-economic ladder—and in the United States, this mostly consists of communities of color—you know, like our culture bearers and many of our musicians.

The spectacular failure of the American response to COVID-19 will be the topic of many public health courses in years to come, but it can be whittled down to the lack of one astute voice navigating the country through the complexities that a pandemic virus can bring. Add to that a broken public health infrastructure that has been defunded over the decades in an effort to meet budget shortfalls, and now we find ourselves in this American Coronavirus conundrum. To be clear, this failing was largely our own doing—and we have no standing to hold the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for it as many Asian and European countries have largely returned to life back-to-normal(ish) because of strong leadership and intact public health infrastructures.

This brings me back to you—my fellow musicians. Please help us in the fight to end this pandemic: Your voices are more powerful than you likely think that they are. The messages are simple: wear masks at all times in public, remain socially distant, and continued vigorous hand washing. Not all three of those messages are weighted the same, by the way; the most important of them is mask wearing, and if a large majority of the US decided to wear masks for one month, life could return to normal-ish.

Imagine if the New Orleans music community united in the type of public health messaging that succeeded in other industrialized countries across the globe. Your collective voices are so powerful that people from all over the world come to see you play music. There are few places in the world that attract multi-national tourists like New Orleans, and that’s because there is no place in the world that has your allure, talent, and charisma.

Please have yourself photographed wearing masks, and use your social media accounts to blast out those pictures with hashtags like #MaskUp. Please offer public support to public health officials, especially when they have tough calls to make. Please reTweet/reFacebook/reInstagram public health messages, because people will listen—you know, because everyone wants to be NOLA.

MarkAlain Déry, DO, MPH, FACOI, is the Chief Innovation Officer and Medical Director of Infectious Diseases at Access Health Louisiana, the largest Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Louisiana, with 39 clinics throughout the state. He is a practicing infectious diseases physician, epidemiologist, and hosts a daily 10-minute podcast called NoiseFilter which looks at COVID-19 news through the filter of social, economic and racial justice.