Katie Canales/Business Insider
Downtown San Francisco.
- San Francisco is banning large events for two weeks amid the coronavirus outbreak.
- Events involving 50 people or more in city-owned facilities will be banned until March 20.
- The order comes as two confirmed cases of the virus have been found in the city.
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The city of San Francisco has banned non-essential group events held in city-owned facilities for two weeks as concerns of the coronavirus disease continue to rise.
The order went into effect on Saturday as the city attempts to contain the virus-spread disease, known as COVID-19, and will end on March 20.
A "non-essential group event" is defined as a gathering of 50 people for social, cultural, or entertainment events "where people are not separated by physical space of at least four feet," or about arm's length, according to NBC Bay Area.
The facilities implicated by the order include City Hall, the San Francisco Public Library, the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, and Moscone Center, a venue in the city's SOMA district where many tech conferences are usually held. Symphony events and ballet performances are among the events being canceled, and the city's upcoming St. Patrick's Day Parade has been postponed
While events are being canceled, these venues are still allowed to remain open.