SXSW 2020 canceled after Austin declares local emergency

SXSW, which draws more than 70,000 per year, has been canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.

City officials in Austin, Texas, on Friday issued an order that effectively cancels the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) festival over concerns that the mass gathering could help spread the novel coronavirus.

The event, which features film and music festivals, conferences and interactive media, was scheduled to kick off on March 13 and run through March 22.

"We are devastated to share this news with you," SXSW organizers said. "'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."

SXSW's cancellation comes after the City of Austin declared a local public emergency, forcing event planners to abandon this year's festival. The event itself draws more than 70,000 people from around the world and last year generated $355.9 million for the city.

The event's organizers say that they are exploring options to reschedule and are working to "provide a virtual SXSW online experience as soon as possible."

Apple pulled out of the event this week alongside companies like Twitter, Facebook and Amazon. The Cupertino tech titan was slated to debut several Apple TV+ originals there, as well as a discussion with "Little America" creators Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon.

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7 Comments

abideworldwide

said about 4 years ago

This virus has cost me hundreds of thousands between the AAPL stock and lost work during SXSW. If the flu is worse, why doesn't the world panic sell as much from how many more people are affected by it?

sflocal

said about 4 years ago

abideworldwide said:

This virus has cost me hundreds of thousands between the AAPL stock and lost work during SXSW. If the flu is worse, why doesn't the world panic sell as much from how many more people are affected by it?

So you sold AAPL?

if not, it costed you nothing until you sell. You know that right?

tmay

said about 4 years ago

abideworldwide said:

This virus has cost me hundreds of thousands between the AAPL stock and lost work during SXSW. If the flu is worse, why doesn't the world panic sell as much from how many more people are affected by it?

The flu is seasonal and widespread, and already accommodated into our economies, and it's mortality rate is an order of magnitude less than the Coronavirus (SARS nCOV-19). Seniors are especially at risk and many would require hospitalization and pulmonary support such as ventilators. The problem is that at some point, beds and equipment aren't available, so a patient's mortality increases. Then there is a problem for the economy when individuals don't have healthcare, nor sick leave, and continue to work anyway because they don't have the savings to survive.

I'm 65, and since I'm self employed, and have only a few occasions during the week when I have to drop off at my customer, or have to go to the market, I'm not too much at risk. I would note that I was one of those people that was following this closely since the beginning in China, and I was berated here at AI for "fear mongering and panic".

Fuck all of those individuals that could have made a difference early in the U.S., but didn't because of "economic pain", or "secrecy", or "reelection", or just plain ignorance, and fuck those that are still dragging their asses on this and not providing the American people with accurate and timely information. The U.S. strategy of containment is just barely holding up, and mitigation, ie what happened to the Hubei Province in China, will cause some serious hardships for Americans.

This is exactly what happened during the Flu Epidemic in 1918, albeit that flu had a much higher mortality. If was covered up due to the war in Europe, and as Spain was neutral and still reporting on the flu, it became commonly known as "The Spanish Flu" even as it likely originated in China, brought into Britain by laborers for the war effort.

hexclock

said about 4 years ago

tmay said:

abideworldwide said:

This virus has cost me hundreds of thousands between the AAPL stock and lost work during SXSW. If the flu is worse, why doesn't the world panic sell as much from how many more people are affected by it?

The flu is seasonal and widespread, and already accommodated into our economies, and it's mortality rate is an order of magnitude less than the Coronavirus (SARS nCOV-19). Seniors are especially at risk and many would require hospitalization and pulmonary support such as ventilators. The problem is that at some point, beds and equipment aren't available, so a patient's mortality increases. Then there is a problem for the economy when individuals don't have healthcare, nor sick leave, and continue to work anyway because they don't have the savings to survive.

I'm 65, and since I'm self employed, and have only a few occasions during the week when I have to drop off at my customer, or have to go to the market, I'm not too much at risk. I would note that I was one of those people that was following this closely since the beginning in China, and I was berated here at AI for "fear mongering and panic".

Fuck all of those individuals that could have made a difference early in the U.S., but didn't because of "economic pain", or "secrecy", or "reelection", or just plain ignorance, and fuck those that are still dragging their asses on this and not providing the American people with accurate and timely information. The U.S. strategy of containment is just barely holding up, and mitigation, ie what happened to the Hubei Province in China, will cause some serious hardships for Americans.

This is exactly what happened during the Flu Epidemic in 1918, albeit that flu had a much higher mortality. If was covered up due to the war in Europe, and as Spain was neutral and still reporting on the flu, it became commonly known as "The Spanish Flu" even as it likely originated in China, brought into Britain by laborers for the war effort.

I don’t seem to remember these types of cancellations during the H1N1 bird flu epidemic, which killed over 1000 Americans before the government declared an emergency. It’s mostly media driven, this current “panic”.

abideworldwide

said about 4 years ago

sflocal said:

abideworldwide said:

This virus has cost me hundreds of thousands between the AAPL stock and lost work during SXSW. If the flu is worse, why doesn't the world panic sell as much from how many more people are affected by it?

So you sold AAPL?

if not, it costed you nothing until you sell. You know that right?

Good point and appreciated. I have not sold, and am planning to wait the * hopefully * year or two years it may take for the value to get back to what it was before the media whipped up panic selling.