CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Are city leaders worried about COVID-19 as festival and conference season approaches?
There are a lot of events coming up in Corpus Christi. And, for now, Corpus Christi Mayor Joe McComb said there's no reason to alter the plan for any upcoming city events.
"All of us are working together to try to protect our community, so far so good." McComb said. "But we've got to stay vigilant until this thing passes."
The cancellation of Austin's SXSW festival has local residents concerned that Corpus Christi's biggest celebration of the year could have a similar fate.
The mayor metioned that ultimately the decision to cancel Buc Days would be up to the event's organizers.
"To date we're moving forward with Buc Days as planned." Johnny Philipello, President and CEO said. "We're hoping to raise a lot of money for scholarships and should the situation change, we'll certainly revisit it."
The next big event is Cassidy's Irish Pub's St Patrick's Day Block Festival.
Mike Treiber, the owner of Cassidy's Irish Pub in Corpus Christi says they will have extra hand washing stations at this year's event.
While some in the community might be nervous to be around crowds of people, others are waiting to see what happens with this virus in the coming weeks.
"For example we go to the rodeo in a month, i don't know we'll see. We'll see." Klaas Vester said. "If there's a lot of virus around we might just uh change our minds."
"We want to spend money in the local economy and that's what we do because we're participatory members of society and we're not gonna let anybody scare us." Michael Prescott said.
Mayor McComb said the city is in constant communication with the health department. If any events need to be canceled due to health concerns, they will make those decisions when necessary.
"I'm thinking positive and optimistic and so we'll cross that bridge if we get to it. We just hope we never get to that bridge." McComb said.
