There were nearly 50 complaints about noise and small house parties, but no one appeared to be breaking COVID-19 public health restrictions during Wednesday's St. Patrick's Day festivities.
Lineups began forming outside of downtown bars and pubs in the morning as eager revelers anxiously awaited their first sip of green beer. Once establishments opened the lines quickly disappeared with business owners obeying pandemic capacity limits.
London police and bylaw officers were out in full force. They stated in a recap of the day's events issued on Thursday Londoners took COVID-19 precautions to heart.
"While the overwhelming majority of our enforcement activities to date have been in response to complaints of large gatherings. Yesterday, on St. Patrick’s Day – our response was primarily to noise complaints, with Londoners remaining within the provincial guidelines when it came to gathering limits," said Police Chief Steve Williams. "For that, we thank you.”
In all, officers received 48 complaints about noise and gatherings. There were six people treated for non-life threatening injuries. Of the 26 bars and restaurants checked, all were in compliance with capacity limits laid out in the province's pandemic response framework. Middlesex-London is under the orange-restrict level of the colour-coded system which caps gatherings at ten people indoor and 25 people outdoors and limits establishments to 50 patrons.
Investigations into possible Reopening Ontario Act offences are continuing, police said. More information about those investigations will be provide as it becomes available.
In the days leading up to St. Patrick’s Day, police, the City of London, the Middlesex London Health Unit, Fanshawe College, and Western University had been flooding social media with warnings that failure to obey public health measures could result in fines and a surge of COVID-19 cases.
“I’m proud that, for the most part, Londoners celebrated St. Patrick’s Day responsibly, whether at home or in local pubs and restaurants,” Mayor Ed Holder said in a statement. “We are in the midst of a time when COVID-19 is not only present in London, but case numbers appear to be trending slightly higher. My sincerest thanks to all of the community agencies whose collective efforts are focused on keeping Londoners safe.”