The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was put off for the second consecutive year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Cameron Kaiser, the public health officer for Riverside County in California where the multiday event is held each year, announced the cancellation on Friday. Coachella is an event of “international scope” and draws in thousands of attendees from countries across the globe, “including several disproportionately afflicted” by the pandemic, according to the public health order canceling the event.
Recommended Stories
“Due to the pandemic, Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser today (Jan. 29) signed a public health order canceling Coachella Valley Music and Arts, Stagecoach Country Music festivals planned for April 2021. We look forward to when the events may return,” Kaiser said.
Due to the pandemic, Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser today (Jan. 29) signed a public health order canceling Coachella Valley Music and Arts, Stagecoach Country Music festivals planned for April 2021. We look forward to when the events may return. https://t.co/YAIn8uTea9
— Dr. Cameron Kaiser (@RivCoDoc) January 29, 2021
The order read: “This order is intended to reduce the likelihood of exposure to COVID-19, thereby slowing the spread of COVID-19 in communities worldwide. If COVID-19 were detected at these festivals, the scope and number of attendees and the nature of the venue would make it infeasible, if not impossible, to track those who may be placed at risk.”
The festival was first canceled in April 2020 when states across the country began shutting down and putting coronavirus restrictions into place. Coachella planned to be moved to October, but the event then again was moved to April 2021 as cases continued to grow across the country in the fall and winter.
As millions of vaccines are continuing to be distributed, cases of COVID-19 in the United States have declined by 33% in the past two weeks, hospitalizations are down 17%, and deaths have dropped by 2%. In California, new cases have plummeted by nearly half, and hospitalizations are down 20%, although deaths have risen by 4% in the past two weeks.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Coachella for comment.
