UPDATED, March 4 at 3:30 p.m.: This story has been updated with additional cancellations.

A growing number of speakers and businesses canceled their plans for South by Southwest as worries about the spread of the coronavirus continue to escalate. Among them are Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Amazon Studios, chip-maker Intel, tech news website Mashable and the video streaming site Vevo, according to reports.

Investor Tim Ferriss, host of the blockbuster business podcast The Tim Ferriss Show, also bowed out of the conference on Tuesday, tweeting, “I love SXSW, but I don’t believe the novel coronavirus can be contained, and I view an int’l event of 100K+ people as a huge risk to attendees and the entire city, given limited ICU beds, etc.”

Facebook called off its plans for South by Southwest on Monday. “Due to concerns related to coronavirus, our company and employees will not be participating in SXSW this year,” Jocelyn Jones, a Facebook spokesperson, said by email.

Several Facebook employees were scheduled to speak on panels during the conference, according to the Austin American-Statesman. The company also planned to set up an outpost in East Austin for its artists in residence program, a Facebook spokesperson told the Statesman.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey canceled his appearance at South by Southwest after Twitter announced Sunday it was “suspending all noncritical business travel and events” for its employees and others involved in the company’s operations in response to the virus.

The announcements came as an online petition to cancel South by Southwest due to health concerns continued to rack up signatures. On Wednesday afternoon, more than 40,000 people had signed the petition, which appears on the website Change.org.

Attendees register at the 2019 SXSW South x Southwest event in Austin, Texas (Aaron Rogison / SXSW)

Organizers behind South by Southwest said they still plan to move ahead with the conference, which is set to run from March 13 to March 22 this year. Aiming to ease concerns, they updated the conference’s website Monday with a statement saying they are aware of the petition but would go forward with the lineup of events as planned after consulting with government agencies including Austin’s municipal health department. “We are proceeding with the 2020 event with the health and safety of our attendees, staff and volunteers as our top priority,” they said in the statement.

Organizers said they would take special germ-fighting measures like wiping down microphones, providing disinfectant wipes and sprays, hand sanitizer and literature from Austin’s health department about disease prevention.

Otoboke Beaver performs at the 2019 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas (Hutton Supancic / SXSW)

Last year, South by Southwest’s flagship conference drew 73,716 people to Austin, about a quarter of whom came from outside the country, according to organizers. In total, the conference — along with South by Southwest’s education conference, gaming expo and festivals and performances — saw 417,400 attendees, organizers said.

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