Breaking news out of Texas where the city of Austin just announced it’s declaring a local disaster and canceling the South by Southwest festival:
Based on rec of public health officials and consultation with city manager, Adler has declared a local disaster in the Austin and issued an order that cancels #SXSW this year.
— Eric Webb (@webbeditor) March 6, 2020
Travis County Judge Sara Eckhardt is signing a companion disaster declaration that applies to festival gatherings countywide. #SXSW
— Eric Webb (@webbeditor) March 6, 2020
No cases of COVID-19 in Travis County, Dr. Mark Escott, interim medical director and health authority for Austin Public Health, says. #SXSW
— Eric Webb (@webbeditor) March 6, 2020
Escott says officials weighed threat of disease vs. impact of canceling #SXSW.
— Eric Webb (@webbeditor) March 6, 2020
This is a lot of lost revenue for Austin:
JUST IN: SXSW has been cancelled due to novel coronavirus, the film festival organizers announce.
Last year, according to numbers provided by SXSW, the conference brought in $355.9 million dollars of revenue. https://t.co/zCXGtlUxDj
— ABC News (@ABC) March 6, 2020
Earlier in the day, Miami canceled the Ultra Music Festival and Calle Ocho:
.@MiamiMayor, flanked by @JoeCarolloNow and @kenrussellmiami, make the official announcement: this year’s Ultra Music Festival and Calle Ocho have been canceled. pic.twitter.com/DoNUZUarMT
— Joey Flechas ? (@joeflech) March 6, 2020
It’s looking more likely that coronavirus *will* have a major impact on our economy and it’s just a matter of when:
In the last 24 hours, I’ve spoken to lots of sources on the Hill and in the White House and I’ve become convinced that Washington’s response to coronavirus is going to be a massive massive story.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 6, 2020
Just look at what’s happening in Europe right now:
We explored some of this in playbook Pm.
The impacts haven’t fully been realized yet but if you look to Europe, you see major airlines canceling huge numbers of flights — perhaps what we should be expecting. pic.twitter.com/lISz08rmaC
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 6, 2020
And from Congress/White House:
Here’s what Washington has done. The supplemental bill, SBA loans. pic.twitter.com/aOkjcZirzo
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 6, 2020
Pence told Dems that the White House has authority under TANF to help people out of work. White House is floating airline tax breaks. pic.twitter.com/4d0LlKDA8R
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 6, 2020
There’s widespread recognition that there will need to be MORE spending bills, more spending measures and more economic stimulus measures in coming months. What they will look like is unclear. pic.twitter.com/MzoQ2cK5mm
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 6, 2020
WH is now floating airline tax waivers. But there are all sorts of taxes airlines pay — even foreign carriers. our sources believe that if airline taxes are waived, the govt will have to waive passenger taxes too. And if ppl believe they’ll get sick from flying, they won’t fly! pic.twitter.com/jatZV5lBcv
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 6, 2020
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