Coachella and Stagecoach canceled again due to pandemic

Two popular California music festivals have been cancelled 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 set to take place in April but have been canceled, Riverside County public health officials said.

The festivals take place annually at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif., located about 2.5 hours away from Los Angeles, and are known for drawing large crowds.

“This order is intended to reduce the likelihood of exposure to COVID-19,” the county health department said in a release tweeted by public health director Cameron Kaiser. 

The recent cancellations mark the third time the festivals have been pushed back since the pandemic began.

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

Coachella and Stagecoach were originally postponed from spring 2020 to fall 2020. Both festivals were then pushed back to April 2021, before being cancelled Friday.

Riverside County Public Health Department stated in the order that the two festivals of “international scope” draw “hundreds of thousands of attendees.” Because of the number of people estimated to attend the two events, contract tracing of COVID-19 cases would be “infeasible, if not impossible.”

Kaiser did not indicate when the events will be rescheduled.

As of Jan. 29, Riverside County has had 271,910 total cases of COVID-19, with 1,128 people currently hospitalized, according the county health department.