The spread of the novel coronavirus throughout the world has caused large-scale gatherings of all kinds to be cancelled or postponed.
Among the casualties, all St. Patrick's Day parades in Ireland, a nation which has 24 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar announced the cancellation and said "further advice about mass public gatherings will be issued in the next few days.''
Meanwhile, here in Montreal, mass public gatherings seldom get bigger than our St. Patrick's parade, which has run every year without fail since 1824.
It's the longest continually-run parade in North America.
Kevin Tracey, the vice-president of advertising and public relations with the United Irish Societies, says until he's told otherwise, the 197th edition of Montreal's St. Patrick's parade is on.
"We're in close communication and partnership with the city, because without the City of Montreal, we can't put on the parade," Tracey says. "The good thing that we have is that we're not in a hotbed of infections with the virus. So hopefully, the situation doesn't turn, and we don't get more infections. But it's an outdoor event. It's not like we're in a confined place."
A total of 76 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Canada. There are just four known or suspected cases in Quebec.
Ultimately, the Canadian or Quebec health departments would be the ones to tell the city to call the parade off — possibly with very little notice.
"Each event is a situation on its own, and we have to analyze that at the government level and make some decisions quickly for some events," Quebec health minister Danielle McCann told reporters in Montreal on Monday.
"We're hoping it doesn't go down to the wire in this," Tracey said. "It may be a bit of a black cloud that's over us [until parade day]."
Montreal's St. Patrick's parade is set for Sunday, March 22.
With files from the Associated Press.