Closed due to coronavirus: List of activities and state shutdowns over COVID-19 outbreak concerns
The novel coronavirus continues to spread in the U.S. Cities and states are restricting large gatherings of people, and even presidential hopefuls are canceling rallies. Here is a list of events and destinations that have been affected by the outbreak.
City and State restrictions
Massachusetts
On Sunday, Governor Charlie Baker has banned gatherings of 25 people or more. Restaurants are to be take-out only through April 17.
New York, Connecticut and New Jersey
Governors Cuomo (NY), Lamont (CT) and Murphy (NJ) announced their respective states will be shutting down all movie theaters, gyms and casinos temporarily. All restaurants and bars are restricted to take-out only.
Sporting Events and Leagues
NBA
The NBA has abruptly suspended its season "until further notice." The decision came after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of Utah's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. That game was immediately canceled.
At the time the NBA decided to suspend the season, a plan was not yet in place for when the league would resume.
PGA Golf
The PGA Tour canceled the Players Championship after the first round and all tournaments until the Masters.
The Masters Tournament has been postponed, the chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club announced on Friday. Fred Ridley, Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, said the Masters will now take place "at some later date."
NHL
The NHL announced it is pausing the 2019-20 season, effective immediately. Commissioner Gary Bettman said the league will try to resume games "as soon as it is appropriate and prudent," and is hopeful the stoppage will not affect the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball delayed the start of its regular season until May at the earliest. The league said in a statement on March 16 the move was made in accordance with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention against gatherings of 50 people or more for eight weeks.
Major League Soccer
The MLS season has been put on hold. Only two games into the season, the league announced it is suspending play for 30 days.
U.S. Soccer
The United States Soccer Federation announced it would cancel upcoming men's and women's national team matches in March and April. The statement said the majority of the Youth National Team and Extended National Team camps that were planned through the end of April would also be canceled.
NCAA Basketball Tournament
The NCAA has canceled the 2020 Division I men's and women's basketball tournaments.
XFL football
The XFL has suspended play, effective immediately. Prior to the announcement, the new football league said the March 15 game between the Los Angeles Wildcats and the Seattle Dragons would take place without fans.
Tennis: ATP and WTA tours
Thursday, the Association of Tennis Professionals and the Women's Tennis Association, the governing bodies for both men's and women's professional tennis respectively, announced they are both suspending ongoing tennis tours due to health concerns over COVID-19. The ATP has declared a six-week suspension of play, meaning no tournaments will be held up to the week of April 20.
International Soccer
England: Premier League
The English Premier League has postponed its season until at least April 4. The decision was reached after the league called an emergency meeting. The league had previously postponed the Manchester City vs. Arsenal match after Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta tested positive for coronavirus.
Several Premier League players have also tested positive for the virus. USMNT midfielder Christian Pulisic and his Chelsea teammates are in self-quarantine after a teammate tested positive. Several players from Leicester City and Manchester City have also tested positive.
CBS Sports reports there is a possibility that the Premier League 2019-20 season may not be completed. Greg Clarke, chairman of the Football Association which regulates the sport in England reportedly said he does not think it's "feasible" the season will be completed.
Spain: La Liga
In Spain, all La Liga soccer matches have been suspended for the next two matchdays.
Italy: Seria A
Italy's top soccer league Serie A played several matches "behind closed doors" in empty stadiums. But the country has now suspended all sporting events until April 3 at the earliest.
A defender for top club Juventus has tested positive for the virus.
France: Ligue 1, Ligue 2
France's Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 have suspended all matches until further notice. Prior to Friday morning's announcement, the top French soccer leagues had been playing all matches in empty stadiums, a plan they had intended to see through April 15.
Germany: Bundesliga
Germany's Bundesliga teams will also play their matches in empty stadiums this weekend. No plans have been announced to suspend play at this time.
Bundesliga club Paderborn announced that coach Steffen Baumgart is being tested for the virus and second division club Hannover 96 has two players in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19.
UEFA Champions League and Europa League
UEFA, the European governing body for soccer, postponed of Europe's two largest soccer tournaments. Both the Champions League and Europa League competitions are being postponed due to the spread of the coronavirus.
The Champions League round of 16 was set to finish next week and quarterfinals slated to begin on April 7. After the announcement, it is now unclear when play will resume.
Auto Racing
The opening race of the Formula 1 racing season has been canceled. The Australian Grand Prix has also been canceled, race organizers announced.
The NHRA announced Gatornationals, the annual drag racing event, was also canceled. The news comes after a member of the McLaren Racing Team tested positive for COVID-19, the statement said.
NASCAR announced they would postpone race events at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway over the next two weeks. NASCAR had originally announced it would race without fans in attendance and only drivers, crews and other necessary personnel, but have now reversed that decision.
Music Festivals
Coachella and Stagecoach
Organizers of the annual music festival have pushed it back by six months at the direction of health authorities. Goldenvoice announced the rescheduling of the 2020 music festival.
Coachella will now take place over two weekends in October: October 9 to 11 and October 16 to 18. Stagecoach, which highlights country music, will take place on October 23 to 25.
Following the announcement, headliners Dan + Shay took to Twitter to announce that they would not be able to make the rescheduled dates due to their planned tour.
Coachella draws up to a quarter-million people to Indio, California, every year. This year's lineup is set to include Frank Ocean, Rage Against the Machine, Travis Scott, Lana Del Rey and Thom Yorke.
South by Southwest
Austin mayor Steve Adler canceled South by Southwest, the preeminent film, music and media conference that was set to begin in one week. The move comes after weeks of public pressure, during which the conference lost major attendees including Facebook, Twitter, Intel, Mashable, Netflix, Amazon and TikTok. More than 50,000 people had petitioned for the event to be called off.
"There was no acceptable path forward that would mitigate the risk to our community," said Dr. Mark Escott, Austin's interim health authority. He noted that the number of visitors attending SXSW and their many geographic origins would have created a crisis situation.
No cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Travis County, which houses Austin, Escott said. There are at least six cases in the Houston area, the Associated Press reports.
Ultra Music Festival
Miami's Ultra Music Festival, which was scheduled to take place March 20 to 22, has been called off until next year, the Miami Herald reported.
Tin Pan South Songwriting Festival
The annual songwriting festival featuring both amateur and professional composers has been canceled. Tin Pan South Songwriting Festival organizers cited both the recent deadly tornado as well as coronavirus concerns.
Met Gala 2020 Postponed
This year's Met Gala has been officially postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the event's co-chair Anna Wintour confirmed on Monday.
Movies and Theater
Broadway shows canceled
Broadway is going dark due to coronavirus concerns as New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced gatherings with 500 people or more are no longer permitted in the Empire State. While the New York ban was set to go into effect Friday at 5 p.m., the Broadway shows shutdown began at 5 p.m. Thursday and will run through April 12.
Tribeca Film Festival postponed
In a statement Thursday, Tribeca Film Festival announced postponement based on Governor Cuomo's announcement. The festival was supposed to take place April 15 - 26, co-founder Jane Rosenthal said on the festival group's website.
CinemaCon
The National Association of Theatre Owners canceled CinemaCon 2020, originally scheduled for March 30 - April 2 in Las Vegas, the organizers said in a statement posted. The convention features distributors and exhibitors presenting upcoming films as a preview for the summer movie season.
Movie releases delayed
Sony, Paramount, STX, Disney, and Universal have all delayed the release of several feature films. Some of the movies include F9, No Time to Die, Lovebirds, Mulan, The New Mutants, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, A Quiet Place Part II, and Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway.
Concert Tours
Pearl Jam
Individual musicians are also calling off their tours. Pearl Jam has pushed back the North American leg of its tour, which was scheduled to start March 13 in Toronto. (Shows in Germany are still scheduled to proceed, starting June 23.)
Avril Lavigne
Pop singer Avril Lavigne has canceled multiple tour dates throughout Europe in March and April. She took to Twitter to tell her fans "You're in my thoughts and prayers and we are hoping to announce rescheduled shows soon."
Green Day
American pop-punk band Green Day postponed their "Hella Mega" tour dates in Asia "due to the health + travel concerns with coronavirus," the group said on Twitter. "We know it sucks, as we were looking forward to seeing you all, but hold on to your tickets we'll be announcing the new dates very soon."
Blake Shelton
The country singer's "Friends and Heroes" tour dates from March 12 to March 21 have been postponed and will be rescheduled.
K-Pop: BTS, Taeyeon and NCT
K-pop group BTS, one of the most popular boy bands in the world, canceled April tour dates in Seoul citing concerns about the coronavirus. Instead of starting its world tour in Seoul, the band will hold its first show in Santa Clara, California, later in April. Fellow singers Taeyeon and NCT also dropped planned shows for Singapore.
Public Events
Boston Marathon postponed
The Boston Marathon, scheduled for April 20, was also postponed. The marathon has been rescheduled for September 14.
White House Easter Egg Roll
The White House has called off this year's Easter Egg Roll as public health officials across the country implement new measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The annual event, which takes place on the South Lawn, was scheduled to take place April 13, but was canceled "out of an abundance of caution," the White House said.
Vacation Destinations
Disney resorts in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo
The Tokyo Disney resort said this week it would close until March 15 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Disney theme parks in Shanghai have been closed since January 24 and Hong Kong Disney attractions since January 25.
Disneyland – Anaheim, California
Disneyland was granted an exception from the state of California advisory to postpone or cancel all gatherings of 250 people or more. After initially deciding to stay open, Disneyland announced it would shut down for the remainder of March. This is only the fourth time in history the California park has closed.
Officials said that Disney's three hotels at Disneyland — the Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Pier and the Grand Californian — will remain open until Monday, March 16 to give current guests enough time to make travel arrangements.
Disney World – Orlando, Florida
A few hours after announcing Disneyland's closing, Disney announced that the theme parks at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, and the Disneyland Paris Resort will close starting at the close of business on March 15. Disney Cruise Line will suspend all new departures beginning March 14.
On its website, Disney World says those with tickets for days the park is closed will be extended to use any date through December 15, 2020, and annual passes will be extended by the number of days the parks are closed, March 16, 2020, through March 31, 2020.
Universal Studios – Orlando and Hollywood
CBS Miami reports that Universal Orlando will be closing its two parks and water park. The closures will last until the end of March. However, the company said Universal's hotels and CityWalk will remain open.
Universal Studios Hollywood also announced they would be closed to the public, according to CBS Los Angeles.
SeaWorld closing
SeaWorld announced they are temporarily closing all our theme parks through the end of March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Technology conferences
E3 2020
E3, the world's biggest gaming convention, has been called off, CNET reported. The Entertainment Software Association, which organizes the annual event, said E3 will return in 2021, according to GameSpot. The convention is a spotlight for major game companies to showcase their new products for the year. Last year, 66,000 people attended.
Microsoft and Ubisoft will showcase their games online instead.
"After careful consultation with our member companies regarding the health and safety of everyone in our industry — our fans, our employees, our exhibitors and our longtime E3 partners — we have made the difficult decision to cancel E3 2020, scheduled for June 9 to 11 in Los Angeles," the Entertainment Software Association said in a statement.
Facebook Global Marketing Summit and F8 conference
Facebook canceled its annual marketing summit scheduled for early March, which was expected to draw 4,000 people. Additionally, their annual F8 developers conference – scheduled for May 5 and 6 – has also been canceled. Facebook called off the "in-person component" of its F8 developer conference, the company's biggest annual event, which typically brings thousands of software engineers to Silicon Valley. Facebook said it would replace the event with "locally hosted events, videos and live-streamed content."
Google I/O and Cloud Next conferences
Google announced that it has canceled its annual developers conference scheduled for May 12 to 14. The announcement came after the search giant had announced the cancellation of both its annual Cloud Next conference and Google News Initiative Summit, opting for a virtual cloud conference instead.
Google News Initiative
Google called off its annual news conference, which would have brought together several hundred media-industry attendees in Sunnyvale, California, in late April. "We regret that we have to cancel our global Google News Initiative summit but the health and wellbeing of our guests is our number one priority," Richard Gingras, vice president of news, said in a statement.
Mobile World Congress
The MWC, the world's largest technology trade show, typically attracts some 100,000 people from around the world to Barcelona every February. But the conference organizers called off this year's event after high-profile attendees including Facebook and LG pulled out.
"The global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances make it impossible for the GSMA to hold the event," the organization said in a statement on February 12. The show has been an annual event since 2006.
Games Developer Conference
After Gearbox, Blizzard Entertainment, and other big developers announced they would not attend Games Developer Conference in March, the conference was postponed. Organizers say that GDC will still happen in summer 2020, but it is unclear whether the developers that have dropped out will still attend at a later time this year.
Other conferences and conventions
Adobe Summit
Adobe canceled the in-person version of its eponymous Summit, scheduled for March 29 to April 2 in Las Vegas, the AP reported. More than 20,000 people were expected to attend the conference, which will be held as an "online experience" this year, according to the AP.
Cold Spring Harbor
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has called off all conferences and meetings set to take place on its campus on New York's Long Island for the coming month. "CSHL has canceled or postponed all upcoming scientific conferences and courses bringing participants to campus through April 5th, and will reevaluate future offerings on a rolling basis," the lab said in a statement. The move affects at least four courses set to take place in that time period.
Real estate conferences
The National Association of Realtors canceled two West Coast conferences this week: the Joint AE Institute, which was to take place March 13 to 16 in San Diego, and the Realtor Broker Summit, scheduled for March 31 to April 1 in Los Angeles. The group said it is "considering alternatives" and could reschedule, relocate or redesign both conferences later in the year.
WonderCon 2020
Comic-Con International's upcoming WonderCon convention, originally scheduled for April 1 through April 12, has been postponed until a later date. In a statement, organizers cited a California Department of Public Health recommendation that gatherings and events of more than 250 people should either be postponed or canceled.
The fate of San Diego Comic-Con, the largest comic book convention, has not yet been decided. It is currently scheduled to take place July 23 to 26.
World Bank, International Monetary Fund
The 189-nation International Monetary Fund and its sister lending organization, the World Bank, announced that they will replace their regular spring meetings in Washington with a "virtual format," the Associated Press reported.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank President David Malpass issued a joint statement saying their decision was driven by "growing health concerns related to the virus." Separately, the World Bank has said it would make up to $12 billion available globally to boost countries' response to the coronavirus, the Financial Times reported.
The two global lending organizations typically hold a spring meeting in Washington, where they both have their headquarters. This year's meeting had been scheduled for the week of April 13.
Houston energy conference CERAWeek 2020
A major energy conference in Houston has been called off. IHS Markit has canceled CERAWeek 2020, an annual energy conference that was set to attract delegates from more than 80 countries to Houston starting March 9.
"We do this with deep disappointment," the organizers said in a statement, adding that their top priority was the health and safety of conference participants.
"We have spent the last several weeks focused on this question, established a medical partnership with Houston Methodist Hospital, have been in continuing dialogue with experts on infectious disease, and established an extensive protocol. But the spread of COVID-19 is moving quickly around the world," the organizers added.
ASEAN summit
The Trump administration postponed a March 14 summit with the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. President Trump invited ASEAN leaders to a meeting in Las Vegas after he did not attend a November summit with the group in Bangkok, Reuters reported.
Geneva International Auto Show
The annual Geneva International Motor Show was canceled as the Swiss government put an immediate ban on all public and private events involving more than 1,000 people, CNET reported. The ban is expected to last until at least March 15.
"We are aware that this measure will have a significant impact on public life," said Switzerland's interior minister, Alain Berset.
The event, originally slated to kick off March 5, was expected to generate up to 250 million Swiss francs (or $257 million) in spending, according to the AP.
Switzerland has reported 15 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus. It borders northern Italy, which has seen the largest cluster of cases in Europe. Other affected events include the traditional Carnival procession in Basel, a ski marathon and several soccer matches, according to the AP.
Alex Sundby contributed reporting.
