BUFFALO, N.Y. — St. Patrick's Day parades in the City of Buffalo this weekend are still on, for now.
The 27th annual "Old Neighborhood" St. Patrick's Day Parade is this Saturday beginning at noon. The 2020 St. Patrick's Day Parade on Sunday along Delaware Avenue starts at 2 p.m.
However, a spokesperson for Byron Brown said Wednesday night that Buffalo's mayor will provide an update some time Thursday.
Concerns over the coronavirus have already resulted in the cancellation of St. Patrick's Day parades in Dublin, Ireland, as well as New York City, Boston, Chicago and Pittsburgh.
"Right now, no decisions have been made not to go forward, we're operating under the assumption right now that we're going forward but we are evaluating the circumstances getting constant updates from the state and the county," Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said.
Could a confirmed case here in Buffalo, would that really be the tipping point?
"Certainly, a confirmed case would be the tipping point that would be extremely concerning and we would have to evaluate that if that in fact did occur," Brown said.
Could a suspected case of coronavirus could that change things?
"I don't think we're necessarily looking at a cancellation based on suspicion, a confirmed case currently would put us in the mindset of having to consider cancellations of large public events," Brown said.
Mayor Brown said Tuesday that the city is seeing sponsors pulling out of local events, because of coronavirus concerns.
"We are seeing some of the sponsors for some of the events that are planned here pulling out, not cancelling not ending events but some of the entities that were sponsoring things pulling their sponsorship," Brown said. He could not say what financial impact this would have on events or the city.
As the coronavirus continues to spread, still with no confirmed cases in Erie County, Mayor Brown says he is no longer shaking hands with people, instead implementing an elbow bump.
