Authorities determine it’s not worth the risk.

Tuesday’s planned roadside sobriety checkpoint announced last week has been canceled due to COVID-19 safety protocols.

"We're following the advice of the governor: we're limiting our exposure and the public's exposure to coronavirus by keeping that 'social distance,'" Stark County Sheriff George Maier said.

According to the sheriff’s new release, "We want to strongly recommend to those who will be consuming alcohol to plan for a designated driver or make other arrangements.“

While the coronavirus outbreak has government officials asking people to stay home from work, closing schools and businesses, it also has law enforcement asking, "Is it worth the trouble right about now?"

"If we do checkpoints, keep in mind that 98 percent of the people we come into contact with, we will spend less than a minute with them and they are not impaired. Is it worth having that contact? We don't think at this point in time," Maier said Monday.

Add to that Sunday's order by Gov. Mike DeWine that all bars and restaurants close.

Maier pointed out that while people may still gather at their homes to celebrate the St. Pat's holiday, he is asking them to consider that family members could be surrounding themselves with friends who may actually have COVID-19 and not be aware of it.

"Obviously, we've taken extreme measures to protect our staff, our jail population and the public with whom we deal," Maier said.

And he is asking that celebrants consider taking safety measures as well.

"We're not panicking, we're responding. We're having a calculated response to a very serious problem we're having in this country. But we want people to use extreme caution and heed the direction of their government and obviously social distancing has a huge impact on the spread of this virus," the sheriff said.

Reach Lori at 330-580-8309 or lori.steineck@cantonrep.com.

On Twitter: @lsteineckREP