This St. Patrick’s Day weekend was a unique and quite muted one for many Boulder residents as venues around town suspended operations and numerous events were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic spreading throughout Colorado.

But Saturday night on University Hill, the party didn’t stop. Many college students, newly freed from their classrooms as the University of Colorado Boulder moved classes online for the rest of the semester, and others crowded into parties despite recommendations from local and state health officials that large gatherings be avoided.

According to Boulder Police Sgt. Tom Dowd, though this St. Patrick’s Day weekend wasn’t the busiest he and his colleagues have seen, the occasion still saw many coming out.

“I can say that we broke up multiple parties that contained probably over 100 people,” he said.

Dowd added that the department received around 20 noise or party complaints and issued at least four nuisance party violations. A nuisance party violation, he said, could involve possessing alcohol outside of a party in a public area, urinating in public or underage drinking.

“We absolutely recommend that people do not participate (in) or host large gatherings,” said Chana Goussetis, a spokesperson for Boulder County Public Health. “It is okay for people to meet with each other, it’s important to not feel isolated, but ideally less than 10 people is the… size that we recommend.”

This recommendation that people stay away from large crowds and keep at least six feet away from others, termed social distancing, has been followed by many Americans. The theory behind these measures is that they will slow the spread of COVID-19 enough to where America’s health care system won’t be overwhelmed.

Businesses have been allowing their employees to work remotely, some restaurants have moved to pick-up only models and more recently, Boulder closed its city buildings to the public until March 29, following a similar move by Longmont.

It seems for some on the Hill, though, this urging from government agencies and medical professionals has fallen on deaf ears.

“Yeah, there was no social distancing protocol yesterday with the party goers,” said Dowd.

Boulder County announced Sunday, as well, that two more residents have tested positive for COVID-19, one of whom is a University of Colorado student in their 20s. The announcement brings the total number of cases so far in the county up to three. Both of the other cases involve people in their 20s who returned from an event in California.