Thanks, Coronavirus: Ireland Cancels St. Patrick's Day Parade

But events in Boston, New York City still currently on
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 9, 2020 3:33 PM CDT
Ireland Cancels an Iconic Event Over Coronavirus Fears
A man dressed as St. Patrick poses for a selfie as the St Patrick's day parade makes its way down O'Connell street in Dublin, Ireland, Saturday March 17, 2018.   (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)

Hundreds of thousands of people come to Dublin each year for Ireland's biggest St. Patrick's Day parade, but not this year. The government has canceled the event thanks to the outbreak of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, RT.com reports. Typically, about 100,000 people from abroad would travel to Ireland for the parade, and doctors have been calling for its cancellation amid public health concerns. The country's health minister said Monday that Ireland expects a "rapid escalation of cases" in the coming days, and could end up dealing with an outbreak on the scale of Italy's.

Other cities around Ireland have been canceling their own St. Patty's Day parades in recent days; as of now, New York's parade, which is actually the biggest one in the world with an estimated two million attendees, is still on. So is Boston's, and Fortune reports many are wondering why neither one has yet been canceled. (More coronavirus stories.)

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