The impact of the coronavirus, the mysterious respiratory virus that cropped up in Wuhan, China in December, reached into Butler County Wednesday when officials at Slippery Rock University canceled plans for a Chinese New Year’s celebration slated for Feb. 15.
The outbreak, which had killed nearly 500 as of Wednesday, and is being reported around the globe, hasn’t reached Butler County. But organizers of the event at Slippery Rock said they were canceling the celebration out of respect for people in China who haven’t been able to celebrate.
Chinese New Year, a celebration that dates back more than 4,000 years, is an observation of the lunar new year, which continues through Feb. 8.
Slippery Rock, with about a dozen students from China, canceled its celebration on the heels of China travel bans at colleges across the country.
Pitt, Carnegie Mellon and Penn State University all canceled university-related travel to China and advised faculty, staff and students with plans to go there to make other arrangements following a Jan. 30 emergency alert from the U.S. State Department advising against travel to China
