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U.S. NEWS Thursday 12 March 2020

Chicago, other cities, cancel St. Patrick's Day parades

By DON BABWIN ence with a supportive Illi- toms, such as fever and
Associated Press nois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. cough. For some, especial-
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Chicago's parade had ly older adults and people
on Wednesday joined the been scheduled for Satur- with existing health prob-
ranks of cities around the day, ahead of St. Patrick's lems, it can cause more se-
world to scrap St. Patrick's Day on Tuesday. vere illness, including pneu-
Day parades amid con- "We all know what the St. monia.
cerns about spread of the Patrick's Day celebrations The cancellations come as
new coronavirus, calling off mean to the city of Chica- the number of confirmed
an event that attracts tens go," said Pritzker, a Demo- coronavirus cases climbs.
of thousands of revelers crat. "Because of what In the U.S., the total has
who line the streets, pack we've seen nationally, and topped 1,000. Worldwide,
themselves into pubs and across the world, of the in- more than 119,000 have
peer into a river that every creased risk of large gath- been infected, and more
year is turned bright green. erings, this was the right than 4,200 have died.
Chicago's mayor said she call." Lightfoot's announcement In this March 17, 2018 file photo, boats move through the water as
couldn't risk the kind of Indeed, it was deemed came a day after officials the Chicago River is dyed green for St. Patrick's Day in Chicago.
gathering that scientists the right call in cities from announced that the num- Associated Press
warn could hasten the fur- Boston and Philadelphia to ber of cases in Illinois had
ther spread of COVID-19. Denver and San Francisco. climbed by eight to 19. ness may take three to six 146,000-resident city for a
"Like cities across the na- The cities of Dublin — the The vast majority of people weeks to recover. few days.
tion, we concluded that one in Ohio and the one recover from the new virus. Some cities were still con- In Chicago, the cancella-
having a parade at this in Ireland — also pulled the According to the World sidering what to do about tion of Saturday's parade
time posed an unnecessary plugs on their parades. Health Organization, peo- their St. Patrick's Day pa- is bad news for the res-
risk to the public's health," For most people, the new ple with mild illness recover rades. On Wednesday, the taurants that usually are
Mayor Lori Lightfoot told coronavirus causes only in about two weeks, while City Council in Savannah, packed with revelers all
reporters at a news confer- mild or moderate symp- those with more severe ill- Georgia, announced it day and well into the night.
would hold an emergency "For us it's devastating," said
Woman convicted in meeting later in the day to Kieran Aherne, regional
discuss the city's 196-year-
manager of Fado Irish Pub,
death of anti-gang crusader old parade. Savannah four blocks from the Chi-
and surrounding Chatham cago River that ordinarily
County so far have no con- would be dyed green. "Sat-
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — A firmed COVID-19 cases. urday is bigger here than
woman who drove her SUV The city's weekend fes- St. Patrick's Day and this will
over a New York mother tivities and March 17 pa- be a six-figure loss for us."
who had been saluted by rade draws crowds ap- In a news release, Light-
President Donald Trump for proaching a half million foot's office said the city
her crusade against gang people, potentially more will work with organizers to
violence was found guilty than tripling the size of the reschedule the parade.q
Wednesday of all charges.
Annmarie Drago was con-
victed of criminally negli-
gent homicide, petit larce-
ny and criminal mischief in
the September 2018 death
of Evelyn Rodriguez.
Rodriguez became a sym-
bol in the fight against MS- In this Nov. 29, 2018 file photo, Annmarie Drago appears at Suf-
13 gang violence after her folk County District Court in Central Islip, N.Y.
16-year-old daughter was Associated Press
hacked and beaten to
death along with a friend morial was in front of Dra- head to the scene in Brent-
on a suburban Long Island go's mother's home and wood for a vigil.
street. She was killed af- was concerned it would Drago's defense team has
ter confronting Drago for scare off potential buyers. said she never intended to
trashing a memorial set up The fatal SUV strike was hurt anyone and was only
for the second anniversary recorded by a television trying to escape Rodriguez
of the girl's death near the news crew that was rolling and her companion.
spot where she was slain. as dignitaries, including a Drago faces up to four
Prosecutors said the me- congressman, prepared to years in prison.q