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Today is Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras... which in New Orleans is a big, HUGE deal.

But how do you celebrate the famous Mardi Gras carnival during the coronavirus pandemic?

Well the main festivities and floats have been cancelled but that doesn't mean locals are giving in. Rather they've decorated their homes as floats - more than 3,000 of them in all - and, as the floats can't go to them, they're going house-to-house to see them.

Other celebrations include decorating and collecting items like shoes and coconuts which, this year, have been gifted to healthcare workers.

We spoke to Virginia Saussy, a member of the Muses parade 鈥渒rewe鈥� whose home, along the parade route, usually overflows with people this time of year.

"We glitter shoes in Muses. We take old high heel shoes and decorate them... and we were all shoe fairies and we popped up in different places - gave shoes out to healthcare workers in hospitals. People collect them, so getting a 2021 shoe when there's no parade became an instant hit."

(Photo: Virginia Saussy and a friend on Muses tHERsday. Credit: Virginia Saussy).

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