Those looking forward to the Coachella Music & Art Festival will need to hold on a bit longer. Coachella, held every spring in Indio,California, was scheduled to run for two weekends in April and feature musical acts such as Rage Against the Machine, Travis Scott, and Frank Ocean. The organization behind the massive event, Goldenvoice, has released a statement stating that the show will now take place in October.
"At the direction of the County of Riverside and local health authorities, we must sadly confirm the rescheduling of Coachella and Stagecoach due to COVID-19 concerns. While this decision comes at a time of universal uncertainty, we take the safety and health of our guests, staff and community very seriously. We urge everyone to follow the guidelines and protocols put forth by public health officials.
Coachella will now take place on October 9, 10 and 11 and October 16, 17 and 18, 2020. Stagecoach will take place on October 23, 24 and 25, 2020. All purchases for the April dates will be honored for the rescheduled October dates. Purchasers will be notified by Friday, March 13 on how to obtain a refund if they are unable to attend.
Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you in the desert this fall."
Health officials have been warning people that large events might be canceled amid the outbreak and have been encouraging 'social distancing' in addition to frequent hand-washing in fighting the disease. Coachella sees more than a half-million people from all over the world visit the Southern California area to attend every year.
As of March 10th, more than 400 cases of the COVID-19 Coronavirus have been confirmed in the United States, resulting in 21 deaths. Other major American events canceled include, South by Southwest, Miami's Ultra Music Festival, and the first leg of Pearl Jam's North American tour.
Dr. Barbara Ferrer, head of the Los Angeles County Health Department has asked that people consider "limiting activities where you have a lot of exposure to the general public."
“This is particularly important for pregnant women, for older adults and for people with serious chronic medical conditions,” she said. “The reason we're talking about these three groups of people is they are at higher risk for getting very sick from COVID-19. It's not that they're necessarily at higher risk for getting sick, but if they were to get sick, unlike the vast majority of people who will probably experience mild or moderate illness, folks who are pregnant or older adults or who have chronic medical conditions may in fact experience more serious illness.”