Patrick’s Day celebrations across the United States are back after a two-year hiatus, including the nation’s largest in New York City, in a sign of growing hope that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic coronavirus has passed.
The celebration served as a key marker in the progression of the outbreak, with parades celebrating Irish heritage among the first major public events to be canceled in 2020. A threatening acceleration in infections quickly turned into a cascade of blanket lockdowns.
The full return of the New York parade on Thursday coincides with the city’s broader reopening. The main mask and vaccination rules were recently lifted.
“Psychologically, it means a lot,” said Sean Lane, president of the parade organizing group. “New York really needs this.”
The city’s entertainment and nightlife scenes have particularly welcomed the return to a normal St. Patrick’s Day party.
“This is the best thing that’s happened to us in two years,” said Mike Carty, Irish-born owner of Rosie O’Grady’s, a restaurant and pub in the theater district.
“We need the business, and this really got it started,” said Carty, who will host the parade grand marshal after the procession.
The celebrations are also back in other cities.
Over the weekend, Chicago dyed its river green, after doing so without much fanfare last year and skipping tradition altogether during the virus’ initial onslaught.
Boston, home to one of the largest Irish enclaves in the United States, will resume its annual parade on Sunday after a two-year absence. So is Savannah, Georgia, where the parade’s cancellation interrupted a nearly two-century tradition.
Some communities in Florida, one of the first states to reopen its economy, were also bringing back their parades.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis chose St. Patrick’s Day two years ago to close restaurants, bars and nightclubs, a dramatic move by the Republican that underscored the fear and uncertainty of the times.
Since then, DeSantis has been one of the nation’s leading voices against mask and vaccine mandates, as well as other pandemic measures.
New York’s oldest and largest parade, first held in 1762, starts at 11 am and runs 35 blocks along Fifth Avenue, past St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Central Park.
It takes place as the city emerges from a daunting bout with the highly contagious omicron variant, which killed more than 4,000 people in New York City in January and February.
New infections and hospitalizations have dropped since the surge, prompting city officials to give the procession the green light.
On the eve of the holiday, Mayor Eric Adams raised the Irish flag in a park on the southern tip of Manhattan, not far from Ellis Island, to honor the city’s Irish history.
“This St. Patrick’s Day, we honor the Irish immigrants who moved in and helped build our city, and the many Irish Americans who serve New York City to this day,” the Mayor said. “Today we celebrate the fighting spirit of the Irish people with the courage and resilience of this entire city.”
Currently, it is not necessary to show proof of vaccination to dine inside a restaurant in New York, but a large number of people still wear masks in public and avoid large crowds. Office towers remain partially empty, as many companies have not yet called employees to work in person. Tourists, once numerous enough to clog Manhattan’s sidewalks, have yet to return to their usual numbers.
[Con información de The Associated Press]
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