Two popular music festivals in California have been canceled again due to the coronavirus pandemic, local health officials announced Friday.
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Stagecoach Country Music Festival were both scheduled to take place in April, but were canceled, public health officials in Riverside County said.
The festivities take place annually at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, about 2.5 hours from Los Angeles, and are known for attracting many people.
“This order is intended to reduce the likelihood of exposure to COVID-19,” the Department of Health said in a statement by Public Health Director Cameron Kaiser.
The recent cancellations are the third time the festivities have been pushed back since the pandemic began.
Due to the pandemic, dr. Cameron Kaiser, public health officer, today (January 29) signed a public health order that would cancel Coachella Valley Music and Arts, Stagecoach Country Music festivals, scheduled for April 2021. We look forward to when the events can return. https://t.co/YAIn8uTea9
– Dr. Cameron Kaiser (@RivCoDoc) 29 January 2021
Coachella and Stagecoach were originally postponed from spring 2020 to fall 2020. Both festivals were then pushed back to April 2021 before being canceled on Friday.
The Riverside County Department of Public Health said in the order that the two “international-scale” festivals attract hundreds of thousands of participants. ‘Because of the number of people who will reportedly attend the two events, the detection of contracts of COVID-19 cases will be’ unattainable, if not impossible ‘.
Kaiser did not indicate when the events would be rescheduled.
As of Jan. 29, Riverside County had a total of 271,910 cases of COVID-19, with 1,128 people currently hospitalized, according to the county’s health department.