São Paulo City Hall Cancels New Year’s Eve Celebration Due to Pandemic

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The mayor of São Paulo, Bruno Covas, announced on Friday, July 17th, that the traditional New Year’s Eve party on Paulista Avenue, in the city’s downtown area, will not be held on the turn of the year 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and the still high risk of transmission of the disease in crowds.

Covas stressed that despite the economic losses to the city, it is the maintenance of the population’s health that matters.

“The healthcare area was paramount for us to make this decision. There is absolutely no chance of thinking about a celebration that brings together one million people at this time. Of course the New Year’s Eve in Paulista helps the tourism sector, but it is an event much more important for the people of São Paulo than for tourists,” he said.

The coordinator of the São Paulo State Contingency Center against the Coronavirus, Paulo Menezes, said the decision will help save lives: “This is not the time to think about that. The Contingency Center will be reassured. We will avoid many deaths this way, thus saving lives,” he argued.

Waiting for a vaccine

Last Wednesday, July 15th, Governor João Doria had already mentioned that major events such as New Year’s Eve and Carnaval should not be celebrated in view of the Coronavirus pandemic unless a vaccine against Covid-19 is created.

“It is the greatest tragedy in this country’s history at any time. There is nothing to celebrate. And attention to those who still want to celebrate New Year’s Eve or Carnaval before such a picture. We don’t need to celebrate either New Year or Carnaval before a pandemic”.

“Only with the vaccine ready and administered, and the immunization provided, can we have celebrations that are part of the country’s calendar, but not at this time,” said Doria.

New date for Carnival 2021

Mayor Bruno Covas also said on Friday that the São Paulo City Hall is in dialogue with the samba schools to set a new date for Carnaval 2021.

“We continue to dialogue with the samba schools, with other cities in Brazil, in an attempt to make a joint decision regarding the option of postponing and what the new date for the carnaval would be,” he said.

Regarding the street carnaval, Covas said that the blocks need a shorter period of time to organize themselves than the samba schools that parade in the Anhembi sambadrome.

“We can organize the street carnaval within about two or three months. But for the carnaval to be held in the sambadrome, there must be at least six months between the preparation of the floats and the school’s rehearsals.”

Source: G1