Calle Ocho Festival In Miami Has Been Cancelled Because of Coronavirus Outbreak

The Calle Ocho Festival in Miami has been called off keeping in mind the health of the residents during the coronavirus pandemic. Manolo Reyes, the Miami Commissioner of District 4, has confirmed the news on Twitter.

“The safety and health of our residents is always our first priority. For this reason, the City of Miami and the organizers of Calle Ocho Festival have agreed to cancel this year's event,” Reyes tweeted.

In a press conference, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announced the postponement of the Calle Ocho and Ultra Music Festival.

Calle Ocho is an iconic festival attended by hundreds and thousands of people in Little Havana. The event was scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 15, 2020. Commissioner Joe Carollo’s districts include Little Havana, and he mentioned that it was a “very difficult decision” for them.

During the press conference, Suarez stated that these decisions are made after taking guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“As COVID-19 coronavirus cases continue to rise, public gatherings can pose a risk by increasing person to person contact, often putting groups in close proximity to one another. We are obtaining this guidance from the CDC, which defines mass gatherings as those with 25,000 people or more. With this in mind we have decided to take a pointed preventative action in the best interest of our resident’s health and well being," Suarez said.

Apart from Calle Ocho Festival, the Ultra Music Festival in Miami was also postponed to March 2021. Citing the coronavirus outbreak, the electronic and dance music festival was called off, which was set for March 20-22, 2020.

The SXSW’s, which celebrates film, music, and technology, this year’s event was also canceled. The event was scheduled to happen in Austin, Texas, this March. Various other tech events organized by Facebook, Apple, Google, and other major tech companies are being canceled or postponed to a later date.

Coronavirus has a total of 296 cases in the U.S. and 102,066 worldwide. The deadly COVID-19 has claimed two lives in Florida. Meanwhile, coronavirus has resulted in the deaths of over 3000 people across the globe.