Murphys Irish Day 2020 Cancelled Over COVID-19 Concerns
Murphys, CA — It seems that the Coronavirus has trumped the luck of Murphys Irish Day celebration this year.
Murphys Business Association officials shared Wednesday that this year’s 28th annual Murphys Irish Day has been canceled. The event is among the Mother Lode’s most popular annual celebrations and draws thousands of weekend and day visitors to the area as well as into downtown Murphys for the Saturday parade and related festivities.
The reasons given by the organizers are Calaveras County’s local health emergency declaration on Tuesday after two residents were confirmed with COVID-19, and that the number of confirmed cases nationwide and across the state is rapidly increasing.
Officials say they will be implementing measures to both minimize risk and manage the visitors that they know will be coming that weekend, despite the event cancellation. These include placing hand-wash stations around town, distributing sanitizing supplies, and posting information from the County Public Health Department.
As reported here, County Health Officer Dr. Dean Kelaita held a press conference Tuesday describing that Copperopolis Elementary School was being closed immediately through the rest of the week and weekend for deep cleaning and disinfecting as one of the patients was a student there.
He added that his office was conferring with state officials assigned to COVID-19 related issues about impending potential cancellations of large events for public health safety reasons, including the March 21 Murphys Irish Day celebration.
As more event cancellations are anticipated in the days ahead, folks should check with those organizers before planning to attend.
