Postpone St. Patrick’s Day to prevent coronavirus spread, says SDLP leader Colum Eastwood

The Foyle MP said: “Our first priority must be to the health and safety of the public as the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread.”
The SDLP leader said robust measures would be justified if it meant preventing the outbreak in Ireland extending as widely as it did in China and Italy.
“Our response now should be based on preventing the kind of situation that has developed in Italy and China. The public will understand robust measures now to save lives later.

“That means all public authorities should be considering plans for large scale public events. Unfortunately that will require serious conversations about postponing St. Patrick’s Day celebrations at short notice. We must be driven by public health and public safety concerns. Containment now is better that a more serious crisis tomorrow,” he said.
Mr. Eastwood said his MLAs have submitted “a suite of questions to Executive Ministers probing our preparedness for a significant outbreak on this island and asking what contingency plans are in place to protect public services.”
He added: “The questions we have submitted today are about safeguarding health service workers, ensuring there are plans in place should the outbreak get worse and protecting the public.”