Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has just stated he has no plans to cancel the St Patrick's Day Parade, slated to take place 9 days from now. Last year, his office estimated that 1 million people were in attendance. This is an insane, unacceptable risk for spreading COVID-19.

During the 1918 Spanish Flu, the deadliest pandemic of the 20th century, Philadelphia also held a parade. “In the streets of downtown Philadelphia 200,000 people gathered to celebrate an impending allied victory in World War I. Within a week of the rally an estimated 45,000 Philadelphians were afflicted with influenza.” The organizers of the parade downplayed the risk, claiming that they would be fine with “a campaign against coughing, spitting, and sneezing” but it was not enough. This sounds like Walsh’s current plan of asking parade attendees to “cover your coughs and sneezes.”

There are already several confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Boston area, in addition to many which may remain undetected due to inadequate testing. Visitors from out of state will add potential cases to the mix. Without emergency measures, COVID-19 will spread like wildfire.

The entire response to this crisis from global, federal, and state authorities has been shaped by a need to avoid being "unreasonable" and instead be "calm". We don’t need calm—we need decisive action. If this parade goes on as planned, the effects will be orders of magnitude worse than the Marathon bombings, and the blood will be on Mayor Walsh's hands.

Austin has cancelled SXSW. Seattle has cancelled the 100k-attendee Emerald Comic Con. MIT and Harvard have prohibited any gatherings of more than 150 people. We need Mayor Walsh to follow their lead and cancel the St Patrick’s Day Parade to protect the health of the people of Boston, the people of Massachusetts, and ultimately, the people of the world.

Please sign this petition, and please call Mayor Walsh at (617) 635-4500 and Governor Baker at (617) 725-4005 to let them know that you want the Parade cancelled.