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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, M ar ch 12 ,2 02 0 | 4 tions in a task force report to deal with large street gatherings address the threat of spreading serious communicable diseases. The message from local authorities doesn't seem to be changing much, but peo- ple are expressing con- cerns via email and social media. "Is anyone else kinda worried about coronavirus for when St. Patty's rolls around? Not even to fear monger, kinda feel like a couple thousand people all squished together might not be great given the whole easily spread thing ..." says one tweet. "Dude you are worried about getting a cold. Re- lax," reads a reply. "I'd be more worried about staying safe and watching out for your friends," reads another. Others remind people, even if they're not part of a high-risk demographic, to be safe and mindful of the elderly and those with compromised immune systems with whom they'll be interacting after the party. But at a time when local tech companies and busi- nesses and organizations of all sizes are advising em- ployees to work from home, if possible -- to curb the spread of coronavirus -- in about one week, Waterloo will have an event of an es- timated 30,000 people all crowded into a small area for a full day, said Stuart McTavish, in a letter to the Chronicle, urging someone to take mantle. "This is equivalent to having 10 large cruise ships landing and discharging all of their passengers into Waterloo for a day," McTav- ish, a local resident, wrote. Public health reported the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Waterloo re- gion last Thursday, March 5. "We are preparing for the likelihood of additional cases in Canada, Ontario and Waterloo Region," said Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, acting medical officer of health for Waterloo Region, at a press conference. But as of Tuesday morn- ing, March 10, the risk of in- fection remained low de- spite more serious con- cerns in other parts of the world. "Why hasn't our Water- loo public health not stepped in to stop this gath- ering?" another reader asked. "Ireland has banned their annual parade, Italy is in lockdown, yet Water- loo is going to allow this un- controllable drunkfest." The St. Patrick's Day gathering in Waterloo isn't a sanctioned event, accord- ing to Julie Kalbfleisch, manager of information and communications with Region of Waterloo Public Health and Emergency Services. "In general, we just con- tinue to encourage people to follow infection preven- tion guidelines." Those in- clude avoiding the sharing of drinks and vapes, she said. Kalbfleisch said para- medic services would be out as part of a door-knock- ing campaign with stu- dents on Tuesday evening, March 10. Traditionally, the door-knocking strate- gy has been more of an out- reach mechanism for first responders, she noted. In a statement, Wilfrid Laurier University said the large street gatherings that occur in Waterloo on St. Patrick's Day are neither sanctioned nor condoned by the university. "Unsanctioned street gatherings are already dangerous due to crowd size and behaviour," the statement reads. "Laurier has been working with our community partners to ac- tively discourage students from participating. "With regard to CO- VID-19, the university takes its guidance from public health officials and their recommendations re- garding how individuals can protect themselves." Mayor Dave Jaworsky concurred, noting that the city already advises people that large street gatherings are illegal and unsafe and that people should stay away. "We remain in close communication with pub- lic health on this evolving (COVID-19) situation, and would look to health offi- cials for specific messag- ing," he said. No one knows for cer- tain if there are any infec- ted carriers in a crowd, but because many students do travel have international connections with other ar- eas in the world, there's a high probability that there will be at least a couple car- riers at the gathering, McTavish believes. The local resident said he's concerned infected people at the party could be transported to local hospi- tals and risk the spread of infection to vulnerable pa- tients. "I do not think that Wa- terloo wants to be the epi- centre of the breakout in Ontario, but if this event goes ahead this year, there is a risk that we could be." As the situation wors- ens around the globe, Ca- nadian hospitals have ex- pressed serious concerns about their capacity to deal with high volumes of pa- tients. According to reports, the province's health min- ister Christine Elliott was tight-lipped Monday, say- ing hospitals will co-oper- ate by shifting resources as needed to cope with an in- flux of patients, but provid- ed no details. The confirmed corona- virus case in Waterloo re- gion is a woman in her 50s, who is a resident of the re- gion. It was determined she had mild symptoms on flights from Milan to Lis- bon (Flight 827; Air Portu- gal) and then Lisbon to To- ronto (Flight 259; Air Por- tugal) on March 3. Upon arrival to Pearson, she took private transpor- tation to Grand River Hos- pital for assessment and testing. Hospital staff took all necessary precautions to ensure the safety of staff and other patients. The pa- tient experienced mild symptoms, was released from hospital and is self- isolating at home. On Monday, Ontario confirmed four new cases of coronavirus, bringing the province's total to 35. B.C., with 32 reported cases as of Tuesday, report- ed Canada's first coronavi- rus-related death on Mon- day. -- with files from the To- ronto Star STORY BEHIND THE STORY: The spread of COVID-19 across the globe is causing some countries to take extreme measures to prevent infection and is raising alarm here at home. NEWS Continued from page 1 EZRA EVENT LIKE HAVING '10 LARGE CRUISE SHIPS LANDING AND DISCHARGING ALL OF THEIR PASSENGERS' HERE Doctor Hsiu-Li Wang, acting medical officer of health, and Dr. William Ciccotelli, infectious disease physician, speak at a news conference for the first confirmed local case of COVID-19 in the Region on Thursday, March 5. David Bebee photo