Cincinnati's St. Patrick's Parade is cancelled amid fears about the spread of COVID-19.
The announcement comes after local and state officials March 12 implored organizers of mass gatherings to consider canceling those events in the face of the pandemic.
“The 54th annual Cincinnati St. Patrick’s Parade scheduled for this Saturday, March 14th will be cancelled," Cincinnati St. Patrick's Parade Committee Chairman Chris Schulte said in an email. "The Cincinnati St. Patrick’s Parade has a long-standing tradition of not canceling or postponing our event but we understand that all good things must come to an end."
The news comes after the Reds Opening Day Parade was cancelled/postponed on the evening of March 12 and also follows the cancelations of Saint Patrick's Day parades in Cleveland and New York City.
Schulte acknowledged the businesses that support the annual parade and noted that he's looking forward working alongside them on next year's event.
"May Saint Patrick look over Greater Cincinnati, the United States, and the whole world!” he said in the statement.
COVID-19 is sometimes called the "coronavirus." Coronaviruses are a broad category of virus that cause the common cold, among other illnesses. COVID-19 is what scientists call a new, or "novel" form of the virus — one that hasn't been encountered before and one which epidemiologists do not yet know how to combat.
The virus sometimes causes mild symptoms, or no symptoms at all. But it can also cause very acute respiratory illness that can require hospitalization and even lead to death — mostly among people who are over the age of 60 or who have chronic illness or compromised immune systems. The virus' mortality rate has ranged between .7 percent and 4 percent.
Currently, officials in Ohio have confirmed four cases of the virus, though that number is likely to climb. Three of those cases were in Cuyahoga County; another discovered March 11 was in Stark County.
That pesron, a 53-year-old man, did not travel abroad or come in contact with another person who had a confirmed case of the virus. That's the first case in Ohio of what experts call "community spread."
Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton called that "a game changer."
Twenty four other possible cases are under investigation. The state maintains a website that it will update with further tested and confirmed cases. Indiana and Kentucky have also confirmed cases. No case in the region has yet resulted in death.
