In the last few days, multiple festivals have been canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak that is currently sweeping the United States. Today, Ultra Music Festival officially confirmed that the annual event will be canceled this year. Many people expect a huge domino effect to occur among other festivals around the world. As a result, all eyes are now on Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach.
Coachella brings over 100,000 attendees a day over two consecutive weekends. This makes it even larger than many of the music festivals that have already been canceled. In addition, many of the attendees come from all around the world. Therefore, this year’s Coachella may pose a threat to the public, possibly leading to the spread of the virus.
Moving Forward?
Although there has been much concern about the festival, Coachella and Stagecoach still plan to move forward. According to an NBC report, Riverside County health and elected officials agreed to their continuation. Apparently, there are no incidents of a community spread of the coronavirus in Southern California. However, county officials said that if there is a possible emergency declaration due to the illness, then they have ability to shut down large gatherings such as Coachella and Stagecoach. “If we do make an emergency declaration based on changes in local conditions, as a public health officer I do have the ability to shut down such large gatherings,” the county’s health officer, Dr. Cameron Kaiser, stated. “We would do so with as much lead time as possible.”
Unfortunately, we may be seeing a possible pattern here. A few hours before Ultra Music Festival’s cancellation, the mayor of Miami-Dade County Carlos A. Giménez tweeted that “We’re not canceling any major events in Miami-Dade County, such as Ultra, following the guidance from Florida’s Surgeon General on #Coronavirus.” Hopefully, the same thing does not occur with Coachella and Stagecoach. Ultimately, only time will tell if these events will take place.
Stay tuned for more updates on Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach.
