This year's Tucson Festival of Books is off after more than 100 authors canceled their appearances amid coronavirus concerns, officials announced Monday.

The cancellation came just hours before Pima County confirmed its first case of coronavirus.

As of late Monday, six cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, have been confirmed in Arizona.

The Tucson Festival of Books, which would've marked its 12th year this weekend, draws more than 100,000 people to the University of Arizona campus.

"It's heartbreaking," said festival executive director Melanie Morgan. "For me, for all of our volunteers who work year-round on the festival ... it's heartbreaking for people coming to the festival. It's so joyful and so important to so many people in the community."

The decision to cancel the festival altogether was ultimately made as cancellations from authors and participants poured in over the last week. Last Tuesday, only three authors had canceled due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. The cancellations steadily increased each day after that, Morgan said.

"This has deeply affected our author panel schedule and we anticipate more changes and cancellations will be forthcoming," organizers said in a statement on Monday. "This leaves us with little or noway to plan for author panels or to communicate effectively with the public about those changes."