Austin Mayor Steve Adler said he had declared a local disaster and “together with that I have issued an order that effectively cancels South by Southwest this year.”
The festival was to have been held March 13-22. There are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Austin.
The move comes after dozens of companies, including Apple, Amazon, TikTok, Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, and others have pulled out of the festival as the viral illness spreads and many are wary large gatherings pose a health risk.
MacDailyNews Take: With SXSW the latest mass gathering to be canceled, Apple still has time to decide on June’s WWDC 2020, but it’s running short.
On Friday, Austin Mayor Steve Adler, along with other city and county leaders announced that the 2020 South by Southwest festival would be canceled amid nationwide and local concerns over COVID-19, the virus caused by the Wuhan coronavirus. https://t.co/xvmV61jIC7
— WNCT (@wnct9) March 6, 2020