The festival was scheduled to start on March 13.
“After consultation with the city manager, I’ve gone ahead and declared a local disaster in the city,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said at a press conference, “and associated with that have issued an order that cancels South by Southwest for this year.”and other local outlets noted in recent days as chatter about nixing the festival began swirling.
But as the number of COVID-19 cases began increasing this week, prompting the World Health Organization tofor vulnerable people to avoid large crowds, SXSW organizers found themselves in a tight spot. “As recently as Wednesday, Austin Public Health stated that ‘there’s no evidence that closing SXSW or any other gatherings will make the community safer,’” a statement from the festival read. “However, this situation evolved rapidly, and we honor and respect the City of Austin’s decision. We are committed to do our part to help protect our staff, attendees, and fellow Austinites.”― 14 in Washington state and one in California. There have been 160 confirmed cases across the U.S.
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