Coronavirus Fear Causes Wayland To Cancel Lunar New Year Event

WAYLAND, MA — Wayland's 2020 Lunar New Year celebration set for this weekend has been canceled due to health risks associated with 2019 novel coronavirus. The event was canceled weeks ago, before health officials confirmed the first case in Massachusetts.

The Feb. 9 event was set to take place at Wayland High School and was organized by the Wayland Chinese American Association, Arts Wayland, and the Wayland Public Library.

"[W]e would like to exercise necessary precautions following the CDC's guideline, to avoid gathering of a large group of people in an enclosed space," the organizers wrote on Jan. 14. "We believe this decision will serve the best interest of the Wayland community."

The first positive coronavirus case in Massachusetts was confirmed on Saturday in a UMass-Boston student in his 20s. He had recently traveled to Wuhan, China, where the novel coronavirus originated. The student is recovering at home, health officials have said. Five other people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with the virus.

"The risk to the public remains low. And we continue to be confident we are in a good position to respond to this developing situation," Boston Public Health Commission Executive Director Rita Nieves said in a statement on Feb. 1.

Indeed, seasonal influenza is more prevalent — and deadly — right now compared to coronavirus. The entire state is experiencing "high" levels of flu, according to the weekly influenza report. In the U.S. alone, 9 million people have had flu and 10,000 have died from it in the 2019-20 season, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

About 21,000 people worldwide have confirmed 2019 novel coronavirus, and 426 have died, according to the World Health Organization.

Many other local institutions are canceling activities and events due to coronavirus. The University of Rhode Island has suspended study abroad programs in China, and Brookline and Barnstable have canceled school trips to China. Newton halted its China foreign exchange program.