In the age of uncertainly, one thing you can count on is event cancellations. Word broke Tuesday in an announcement from city health officials, along with Mayor London Breed, that the annual San Francisco New Year's Eve fireworks display is canceled over public safety concerns due to COVID's surging omicron variant.
A statement from the Department of Emergency Management reads, "The decision was made after closely monitoring local health indicators and impacted public safety staffing levels."
While the city is 84% fully vaccinated and 55% boosted against the novel coronavirus, the New Year's Eve nightlife and event cancellations began pouring in this week. California on Tuesday became the first state to top five million casesCity officials cite the recent increase in holiday travel and gatherings as a factor to their reasoning.
"While we are all understandably eager to ring in a new year with San Francisco’s customary New Year’s Eve fireworks show, we must remain vigilant in doing all we can to stop the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant," said Mayor Breed. Limiting public in-person events will also help protect the city's first responders who are susceptible to exposure to the virus.
"The cancellation of the traditional fireworks display will allow us to focus our resources on emergency services and day-to-day operations without the addition of large crowds and the potential incidents that arise from such crowds." said Chief Jeannine Nicholson, San Francisco Fire Department.The annual city-sponsored fireworks show was scheduled to start one minute before midnight and runs about 20 minutes.
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