The East Bay city of Dublin said Monday that it will cancel its annual St. Patrick’s Day festivities amid fears of the novel coronavirus’ spread.
Dublin made the decision to cancel the annual two-day holiday festival, 5K Shamrock Fun Run and Walk, parade and pancake breakfast after consulting with Alameda County public health and emergency services officials.
The festivities were originally scheduled for this upcoming Saturday and Sunday.
“It is our duty and obligation to protect our citizens as well as the many visitors who would be coming into our city for the events,” Dublin City Manager Linda Smith said in a letter to the community. “Cancelling the
Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Celebration is simply the prudent thing to do.”
The two-day event draws roughly 80,000 people each year, according to city officials.
To date, two Alameda County residents have tested positive for coronavirus, also known by the medical designation COVID-19. Both cases were confirmed in the last 10 days, according to county health officials.
The first patient, a health care worker at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital, had come into contact with a coronavirus patient at UC Davis Medical Center while the other was a passenger aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship from Feb. 11 to 21.
“While over 80 percent of people with COVID-19 have mild disease, we can and should prepare for this new virus to gain a foothold in our county, and we should work together to slow the spread of disease and protect our most vulnerable populations.” Alameda County Public Health Officer Dr. Erica Pan said in a statement Friday.
23 comments
The media sure has done an excellent job raising alarm and hysteria.
It’s a little sad that we see our cultural events get shut down but I thin they did the responsible thing.
But I thought alcohol killed the virus… am I missing something?
The virus is transmitted in airborne droplets when an infected individual coughs or sneezes. The point of the hand washing and disinfecting is to make sure these droplets are not transferred in the environment. At this time they do not know how long the virus can survive in the environment. Some viruses last minutes, some last longer. Supposedly, one can infect oneself by touching the eyes nose or mouth with hands carrying infected droplets from an infected individual.
In healthy individuals the virus may take hold in the nose, eyes, or mouth. As long as it stays there the chances are better for recovery. It is when it travels to the respiratory system, which is common, that it becomes a problem. In elderly or immuno-compromised individuals, developing this respiratory infection can cause a secondary bacterial infection and perhaps pneumonia which becomes life-threatening for these individuals. For healthy individuals the chances for full recovery are much better even if it does go to the respiratory system.
This is a simplistic explanation. The use of alcohol to disinfect hands or surfaces is helpful for obvious reasons. However, once the individual is infected, more extensive measures are required and may require a doctor’s care.
@Gittyup, I have a feeling nytemuvr was being facetious.
Gittyup -well said. It’s best to err on the side of caution until we know more about it. I think I’ll go wash my hands again right now.
It annoys me we can’t get accurate and rational information from the president.
This flu bug is NOT airborne. Please read CDC articles other than the “facts” ones posted on Facebook. This virus is a SURFACE bug.
Everyone needs to stop living in facebookland.
You’re right, whoever you are … you don’t say. Corona virus is not airborne. Some viruses are airborne and some are spread in droplets. Corona virus is the latter, spread during coughing and sneezing. It is a respiratory virus. Hence, the wearing of masks. This was information conveyed by a doctor on television who was well versed on the features of the virus. I’m not on Facebook, by the way. I wouldn’t be caught dead with that idiotic crowd. But, you seem to know a lot more about Facebook than you do about Corona virus..
As they say, half the world are idiots and you can find them all on Facebook … and Instagram.
We don’t cancel things when people get the flu every year. Why are we panicking/ overreacting now?
Well, many people get the flu shot every year and most of us have some immunity to that virus because it has been around for years even though it changes somewhat every season. No one has natural immunity to COVID-19 and there is no vaccine and no known effective anti-viral treatment. So this is not an over-reaction…just a prudent step to protect the population.
Because even with a flu vaccine that protects millions of people – look at all of the people who die from the flu.
Now, take away the vaccine so that everyone can get it and just use the same mortality rate as the flu – even though it appears to be slightly higher – then you’ll understand. 🙂
Stupid idea to cancel.
If there is one community where the virus can be spread rapidly it would be amongst the bums and junkies living on California’s many skid rows. It’s odd that being a bum was the hottest topic in the news, and now…not one news story about the potential of junkies spreading Coronavirus.
It has been talked about on Fox News. Just tonight, Tucker Carlson was talking about the possibility of the coronavirus spreading among the homeless population.
Don’t believe the hype….Don’t…Don’t…Don’t…Don’t believe the hype……
What a shame. Chicago, LA, SD, etc. are having their St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Festivals. Stop spreading fear and paranoia.
It’s sad, that people are allowing the DEEP STATE to control our lives by using the CORONVIRUS to scare us.
Especially, when there is a possible cure.
.
This is a flat out lie.
A vaccine is not for a year or more they say and vaccines and not always 100% effective so there is no cure.
Plus do you really think the “Deep State” is controlling China and that’s why Coronavirus started there and that allowed it to majorly affect their economy just so it could eventually hit here and spread to a couple thousand people (out of 330 million)?
It’s just another infectious disease, they happen every five years or so, cool down people, it’s not some bio-weapon to control an election
While I agree that panic does NO one any good at all, here is another way of looking at this. We do not have any population immunity to this virus. Comparison to flu only goes so far. Mind you we are still in flu season, so this is an additional virus added to the current flu season!
One of the biggest issues is that there is strong potential for all hospitals to become overwhelmed by patients treating these cases.
There are just so many unknowns with this new virus. They are finding that it is affecting people in warmer climates as well. So we have no idea when this particular virus season could end. We could potentially save individuals with compromised immune system as well as members of our Senior community who are at the highest risk with this virus by cancelling events.
I think it I prudent to err on the side of caution. If it turns out not to be so bad, then no harm is done.
@@Gittyup posted wrong and dangerous misinformation at March 10, 2020 at 5:29 AM above.
COVID-19 tends to affect the mouth and throat. If it descends into the lungs then a severe form starts which is nearly always fatal. COVID-19 spreads from one person to another via airborne droplets. When someone coughs, sneezes, or talks they expel plumes of infected droplets. Others inhale the droplets and get infected. That’s why people are wearing masks. The masks serve to reduce the size and distance of outbound plumes. Masks also offer a little protection for inbound droplets.
The goal for masks is stopping the infected droplets. They can’t stop the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus as those by themselves are far to small to be stopped by a mask. A coronavirus is so small you can’t see it with an optical microscope. Fortunately, coronaviruses don’t float around by themselves but instead hitch rides on airborne droplets which masks can filter out.
Infected droplets also land on surfaces. People also often cover their mouth with their hand to coughs or sneeze and then touch surfaces. People also then touch their own faces which transfers the infection from the surfaces to their face which makes its way into the nose and/or mouth infecting that person.
Spitting is common in some cultures which is leaving infected material on the ground. Pets and people walk through this. When we pet our pets or take off our shoes the infection transfers to our hands which can then get to our faces.
@nytemuvr is semi correct. Alcohol kills most of the viruses. That’s why the containers of wipes have wording such as “Kills 99.9% of viruses & bacteria.” There are technical reasons for why it’s next to impossible to kill 100%.
West Leland, I think It is possible that the DEEP STATE could be controlling China in refeernce to the Coronavirus.. I would check out “x22 report and BCP”on youtube.
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