WonderCon 2020, set to take place April 10-12 in Anaheim, CA, has been postponed.
“To protect public health and slow the rate of transmission of covid-19, the California Department of Public Health announced a recommendation that gatherings and events of more than 250 people should either be postponed or cancelled. Comic-Con (organiser of WonderCon) will abide by this recommendation. Therefore WonderCon Anaheim, scheduled for April 10-12, 2020 in Anaheim, California, will be postponed until a later date. We will begin processing refunds in the coming days,” read a statement posted on WonderCon’s official website.
The news comes mere hours after the convention company, which also runs Comic-Con International in San Diego, assured fans that the convention would go on as planned. But that was before the Department of Public Health issued the ban on large gatherings, which was endorsed by California Governor Gavin Newsom.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has been following the news for the last week, though. Innumerable large gatherings such as conferences and events have been cancelled, including professional sports and even the release dates of major movies. Everyone is falling in line to help stop the spread of the new coronavirus.
With WonderCon now off the schedule, eyes will turn to SDCC. “We continue to work closely with officials in San Diego and at this time no decision has been made regarding the rescheduling of Comic-Con slated to take place this summer; July 23-26, 2020,” read the statement. “We urge everyone to follow the recommendations set forth by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and your local health officials.”
Gizmodo has reached out to spokespeople for WonderCon and Comic-Con for further information and will update this post if and when we hear back.