SXSW festival in Texas cancelled over coronavirus fears
SXSW festival cancelled over spread of Corona Virus
SXSW festival in Texas is cancelled due to wide spread of Corona virus.
If you’re in Texas and hoping to attend the 34th annual edition of the South By Southwest (SXSW) festival, we’re sorry to announce that it has been cancelled. This is due to the recent outbreak of the Corona virus all over the world.
The South By Southwest is a widely attended festival of music, technology and film in Austin, Texas. The popular festival usually draws people from all over. The Festival organisers and government were forced to cancel after recent pressure asking them to. Apparently, about 50,000 people signed an online petition to stop it. Also, many tech companies including Apple, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter pulled out.
The NYTimes reports that the festival’s cancellation was announced by City and County official declaring a “local outbreak” at a recent news conference. According to them, Austin has not had an outbreak, but the confirmed cases of the virus in Texas is relatively small.
The city’s interim health authority and public health medical director, Dr. Mark Escott said “After careful deliberation, there was no acceptable path forward that would mitigate the risk enough to protect our community,”
“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.’ However, this situation evolved rapidly, and we honor and respect the city of Austin’s decision.”