Lunar New Year Celebration Canceled Amid Coronavirus Concerns

ALHAMBRA, CA — One of the largest Lunar New Year celebrations in Los Angeles County was scrapped Friday amid fears about the coronavirus. The city of Alhambra decided to cancel one of the biggest events of the year for the Chinese community, affecting more than 200 vendors of thousands of celebrants, Felix Guo, senior VP with Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Inc., told ABC7.

The radio station partners with the Alhambra Chamber of Commerce to host the annual gala. There are currently no confirmed cases of in Los Angeles, but the World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a global emergency, and the first known human to human infection in the United States has been reported in Chicago.

The decision to cancel the celebration in Alhambra is as much an acknowledgement of the fear circulating in the community as it is in deference to public health.

Guo, who is also a radio host, says there is constant talk about coronavirus on. "On Chinese social media, there's nothing else but the talk of the coronavirus. Some are fake news. But they successfully created some kind of level of panic and fear," Guo told the TV station.

Guo said the vendors were on board with the decision. "They told us that this is the right thing to do."

Organizers said the were willing to reschedule the event possibly to May or June, according to the station.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.