The COVID-19 coronavirus’ appearance in the United States has rapdily changed public and social life for local residents as organizations and governments cancel events in the name of public safety.

Notifications collected by The Press have been mounting for the past few days, but have increased to a minute-to-minute pace.

Canceled events include the Bethlehem St. Patrick’s Day parade, Northampton County’s voting machine demonstrations, the Arts Council’s Young at Art expo, on-campus classes at several colleges, and any number of others.

A list of Lehigh Valley cancellations as of Monday afternoon appears in the Focus section on B2.

For any and all publc events for the coming week, we suggest residents inquire directly of organizers. Many organizations are emailing notifications to members or posting schedule changes on their websites.