SACRAMENTO, Calif. — There have been no confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Northern California, but, with concerns of it spreading, organizers of several Lunar New Year events in the Sacramento are changing plans.
For the first time in 23 years, Sacramento's Chinese New Year Culture Association is postponing their annual celebration. It was originally set for Saturday, Feb. 8 at Hiram Johnson High School.
"It's a very hard decision, because the whole community put almost nine months effort to put together this celebration," said Xiadong Feng, the president of the Chinese New Year Culture Association. "So now we have to postpone it [and] find a better time, but we feel like it's the right decision."
Feng is the Dean of the College of Pharmacy at California Northstate University. He said, even though we don't have any confirmed cases of the virus in Northern California, prevention is key.
"I would rather to be safe than sorry, because this is basically a decision for the community, not just for myself" Feng explained. "And I don't think any event is worth the risk for our community safety and our community health."
They made the decision to postpone their event about a week ago. Then, another organization called the Sacramento Chinese Culture Foundation, canceled their Spring Lantern Festival event, which was set to happen Feb. 15.
A few days later, the city of Elk Grove followed suit, canceling their Lunar New Year event that would have happened Friday, Jan. 31.
"There's a saying, 'better safe than sorry,' and we really felt like this was an opportunity for us to consider the safety of our community," said Kristyn Laurence, a spokesperson for the city of Elk Grove.
But the Vietnamese community in Sacramento has other thoughts.
"We don't want it to be a mass hysteria," said Kevin P. Nguyen, the vice president of the Greater Sacramento Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce.
They're not letting the fear of the coronavirus stop their Lunar Flower Festival this weekend, which they've already had to reschedule once for weather reasons.
"We do have masks for people who are a little concerned," Nguyen said. "We have information at our information booth that will tell them the symptoms or the signs to stay home if you're sick or if you have the flu. But it doesn't stop the celebration."
Follow the conversation on Facebook with Lena Howland.
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