While parades elsewhere have been canceled due to coronavirus concerns, Saturday’s St. Patrick’s Day parade through downtown Springfield remained a go as of Tuesday.
Brian McFadden, Sangamon County administrator, said health department officials have discussed large gatherings and the coronavirus. “I don’t know, specifically, about the parade itself,” McFadden said. “I know they’re going to be talking again over the next couple days. My impression is, no one’s recommending the parade not happen.”
Boston and Dublin, Ireland, have canceled parades. Both Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders canceled election night rallies in Cleveland scheduled for tonight. School districts and universities across the nation have announced plans to close classrooms and teach students via the internet. SiriusXM, a satellite radio company, has established a 24/7 channel dedicated to broadcasting news and information about coronavirus.
In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a disaster proclamation on Monday. On Tuesday, state officials announced eight new cases, up from eleven the previous day. Of the 19 confirmed cases, 17 are in Cook County, one is in Kane County and another is in McHenry County. Some have recovered, state officials say, but no precise number was released at a Tuesday press conference. No deaths have been reported, public health officials say, but more cases are expected. Health officials haven’t been able to determine the source of infection for the two downstate patients, neither of whom know each other.
“Some new cases may have acquired the virus within their communities,” Dr. Ngozi Ezike, state department of public health director, said at a Tuesday press conference in Chicago. “As we have been saying for days, even weeks, we want everyone to start thinking and preparing now for the virus to circulate more widely in the community. Social distancing will be important to slow and reduce and dampen the effect in our community. This may include canceling large events. It may include limiting going out in the community.”
People older than 60, particularly those with underlying conditions including cancer, diabetes, respiratory ailments and immune deficiencies, are at particular risk, public health officials say, and should either avoid large crowds or exercise caution. “The risk is obviously not low for older populations,” Pritzker told reporters on Tuesday.
Music festivals in California, Texas and Florida have either been canceled or postponed. Pearl Jam has postponed a month-long North America tour that had been scheduled to start on March 18, and Neil Young says that he’s postponed announcing a tour schedule. In Springfield, the Levitt Foundation, which has awarded a grant for downtown outdoor concerts, has sent Downtown Springfield, Inc. links to online information on how to prepare for a coronavirus outbreak. Levitt has also provided a sample addendum to artist contracts stating that hiring organizations can cancel contracts in event of disease outbreak. “We will definitely be monitoring the situation and preparing a plan by utilizing resources like these the closer we get to our first concert scheduled for May 28,” DSI executive director Lisa Clemmons Stott wrote in an email.
Beginning Thursday and through the end of March, nine conventions with expected attendance ranging from 300 to 1,400 people are booked for the capital city, according to Scott Dahl, director of the Springfield Visitor and Convention Bureau. Another 11 conventions are booked for April, with projected attendance at each event ranging from 350 to 2,500 people. So far, Dahl said, there have been no cancellations. Most people who attend Springfield conventions drive, he said. “A lot of fears right now are jumping on a plane and flying,” he said. But coronavirus is a concern.
“It’s definitely on our radar,” Dahl said. “From a tourism standpoint, absolutely.”
The city two days ago ordered 3,000 hand sanitizing pens at a cost of $1,800 to distribute at conventions and the city’s visitor center, Dahl said. “Hopefully, they’ll arrive soon,” he said on Tuesday afternoon. By suppertime, the supplier had been in touch: The pens are on backorder and won’t arrive immediately. The pens include the city’s name and have a shelf life of several years, he said, so they won’t go to waste.
Springfield’s closest known brush with coronavirus occurred last week, when a passenger on an Amtrak train en route from Chicago to St. Louis passed through Springfield and fell ill the next day. WICS television on Tuesday reported that
16 students from Athens School District were aboard the train. The station reported that the Illinois Department of Public Health told the district that students are in no danger because the infected passenger never left a business class car and students didn’t leave their car.
It’s not clear whether anyone who might have been in the same car with the infected passenger disembarked in Springfield, nor is it clear what risk, if any, that might pose to others who weren’t aboard the train. A state Department of Public Health spokeswoman directed a query to a state email address set up to handle media questions about coronavirus. Questions emailed to the address asking about the Amtrak stop in Springfield weren’t answered. Instead, a reporter was told to contact public health officials in Missouri. “This case was reported by the state of Missouri and they are leading the investigation for this case,” the unsigned email read.
A voice mail left at the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services wasn’t returned.
The governor during Tuesday’s press conference didn’t address the Amtrak passenger, but he said it doesn’t take long for someone to get infected. “A ten-minute exposure to someone within six feet, someone who might have coronavirus, leads to the possibility that you could get it,” Pritzker said. “People just need to be extra careful.”
As in Springfield, Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Day parade was on as of Tuesday, but Pritzer said that the decision could be revisited. “I think decisions are going to be made, right now, on the local level,” he said. The situation, officials said, is both fluid and serious.
“We know this is probably going to spread,” Ezike, the public health director, said at Tuesday’s press conference. “We are not at a peak now. Everything we do now will determine how high the peak gets.”
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Politics and powerlessness.
