On Friday evening, after a week of more COVID-19 cases spreading across the U.S., South By Southwest announced that Austin was canceling its 2020 conference scheduled to start this week.

The City of Austin declared a local state of disaster, organizers of the film, media and music festival said in a statement.

“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,” the statement said.

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