NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton announced Tuesday that the city will be canceling the St. Patrick's Day Parade due to health concerns.
New Haven City officials announced on Monday the postponement of their annual St. Patrick’s Day parade over concerns of COVID-19. The parade attracts thousands of people to the Elm City each year.
Although the streets may be less crowded, people still plan to celebrate the holiday weekend.
"Oh yeah, definitely," said Cameron Cyr.
Cyr says he will be one of the people still planning to celebrate St. Patrick's Day weekend. He feels the concerns to postpone the parade are real but won’t detour people from stopping by local bars.
"I mean you can’t really stop people from being people, you know," said Cyr.
Governor Ned Lamont and New Haven Health officials have urged events of over 100 people to be postponed due to the concern of potentially spreading COVID-19. New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said in a statement that the risks merited the decision. He said in part "We realize this has a significant impact on the many groups that participate in organizing and marching in the parade and on local businesses. We regret the inconvenience but want to emphasize the need to keep our city safe for residents and visitors.”
Local pubs like Rudy’s on Chapel Street say they will still open their doors to customers. They still plan to have drink specials and pass out free merchandise to those who dress up.
New Haven city officials will continue to meet daily to evaluate health risks. They have not announced a new date for the parade.
Just over the town line in West Haven, students began packing their bags at the University of New Haven with the announcement of an early spring break.
"First thought for most students is early spring break," said senior Ian Maloney. "Second thought after that is how am I getting home?"
The University announced they will cancel any in-person classes, exams, and events for the next 14 days. School officials say there may have been students that came in contact with a person who has been diagnosed with the coronavirus at an out-of-state conference.
The risk that there was some interaction with that individual and our students, we thought it best to move people off-campus," said Doug Whiting, the Associate Vice President of Marketing and Communication.
Students have until Tuesday, March 10th at 5 pm to move out of their dorms.
"There’s a lot of students that aren’t from Connecticut so they already had a plane ticket or a train ticket. They’re trying to figure out what they are doing to get their flight or the train time moved up," said Maloney.
The University says they will try to help those from out of town while they try to arrange travel plans on short notice. In the meantime, the school will be thoroughly cleaned.
"Particularly the resident halls and in those areas where students tend to congregate a lot. At the rec center, the cafeteria and at the dining facilities," said Whiting.
This week students will be working with their professors to do online work while the school is closed.
For more information on COVID-19 preparedness visit the City of New Haven website to access guidelines from the Health Department for residents, shelters, schools, businesses, detention facilities, daycares, and nursing facilities: https://bit.ly/2TA6l8e