Another event has been cancelled due to the spread of coronavirus, and this time it’s a big one. The immensely popular South by Southwest – more casually known as SXSW – has announced it is cancelling the event this year.
The massive tech, film, and music festival was scheduled to be held in Austin Texas between March 13th and 22nd.
The mayor of Austin, Steve Adler, announced that he had ordered the cancellation of the event after declaring what he called a “local disaster”, after the recent outbreaks across the country.
Organizers for the event took to their website to address the cancellation.
“We are devastated to share this news with you,” the post explains, ““The show must go on” is in our DNA, and this is the first time in 34 years that the March event will not take place.” They also said they will “will faithfully follow the City’s directions.”
It is important to note that there have been no confirmed cases in Travis Country, where Austin is located. But due to the rising amount of cases around the world, city officials deemed it safer to not go through with the event.
There was no mention in the post about refunds for tickets that had already been purchased, many of which cost over $1,000.
There had been a Change.org petition created, asking the organizers to cancel the event and choose the safest option to avoid anymore spreading of the virus.
This is not the first event to be affected by the recent outbreaks, with many people dropping out of events like GDC over growing concerns. Recently, the newest Bond film has been delayed until November due to the outbreak.
