Current Events > Austin cancels South by Southwest (SXSW)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Good move probably. Huge hit to local economy though

https://www.kxan.com/news/coronavirus/city-county-leaders-to-give-updates-on-sxsw-other-spring-events-amid-covid-19-concerns/

Can't say I'm sad for the town to not be overrun with outsiders congesting the roads though

sucks but you cant risk it
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where are the clowns that are still not taking this virus seriously?

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Festival season is gonna be pretty dry. wonder if Coachella will follow suit.
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E32005 posted...

sucks but you cant risk it

No doubt. Austinites are generally pretty pleased when it means fewer people are packing into the city though. So that plus safeguarding against the virus are good.

Economic hit is less good.

But even if SXSW refunds tickets, you have to assume people will still take advantage of their long-purchased plane tickets and hotels/AirBnBs and there will still be a ton of unofficial SX events going on probably.

maybe they'll cancel ACL too

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Awesome posted...

where are the clowns that are still not taking this virus seriously?

I think everyone is still taking the normal "don't get sick" precautions. The media is overblowing it a bit, but no one seems to being outright negligent.

I was legit gonna go. I'm glad I didn't go ahead and buy those non refundable plane tickets. But yeah, a little indie music is not worth potentially spreading the plague.

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_RETS_ posted...

No doubt. Austinites are generally pretty pleased when it means fewer people are packing into the city though. So that plus safeguarding against the virus are good.

Economic hit is less good.

But even if SXSW refunds tickets, you have to assume people will still take advantage of their long-purchased plane tickets and hotels/AirBnBs and there will still be a ton of unofficial SX events going on probably.

yeah its still gonna be tough to deal with and i bet some still do go instead of wasting the money spent.

god, imagine how much of a cluster this will be for the Olympics in Japan this summer if this doesnt die off.
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From what I'm reading in local news, it seems like the city probably made the call under pressure but having the city cancel it officially allows a lot of vendors and corporations to collect on their cancellation insurance.

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E32005 posted...

yeah its still gonna be tough to deal with and i bet some still do go instead of wasting the money spent.

god, imagine how much of a cluster this will be for the Olympics in Japan this summer if this doesnt die off.

I imagine things will be much tamer by the end of the month and this will prove in retrospect to just be a quick speed bump in respects to all of 2020.

Buzz Killjoy posted...

From what I'm reading in local news, it seems like the city probably made the call under pressure but having the city cancel it officially allows a lot of vendors and corporations to collect on their cancellation insurance.

Several big companies already pulled out and there was a petition to cancel with tens of thousands of signatures. It was inevitable. No one wants to be the Mayor in Jaws

_RETS_ posted...

I imagine things will be much tamer by the end of the month and this will prove in retrospect to just be a quick speed bump in respects to all of 2020.

if it slows down in the summer like sars and mers did.
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and thats the bottom line

BECAUSE AUSTIN SAID SO

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Smashingpmkns posted...

Festival season is gonna be pretty dry. wonder if Coachella will follow suit.

SXSW is a whole different beast from Coachella.

several festivals already came out and made statements that they wont be canceling. okeechobee is going on as we speak

SXSW is a tech conference as much as a festival and google, amazon, Facebook, etc all pulled out alreadywith all the heavy hitters gone whats the point of holding the festival?

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Still think people are overreacting just a tad. Media does that kind of thing.

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hockeybub89 posted...

Still think people are overreacting just a tad. Media does that kind of thing.

I agree. But that's par for the course. It is still an ongoing thing so establishing accurate death rate, transmission rate, all that won't really be possible until it hits its peak and trends back down.

Would be far, far worse if it was also taking out otherwise healthy young people, kids, etc but it seems to only be really affecting people who would be similarly endangered by more common viruses. Just read that the median age of dead patients in Italy is 81.

Obviously measures need to be taken to prevent even those deaths, but let's not act like we are in the Contagion movie just yet.

Coachella has gotta be next

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