Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals have been cancelled by public health officials over fears of a second coronavirus wave this autumn.
The two California events had already been rescheduled, first set to take place in April and then pushed back to October due to the pandemic.
However, both festivals have now been cancelled by order of the health authorities in the US state, and will no longer take place in 2020.
The order, issued by Dr Cameron Kaiser, public health officer of the County of Riverside, stated that “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.”
It also cited the festivals’ “international scope”, claiming both would attract attendees from “many countries, including several disproportionately afflicted by the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic.”
It means Coachella and Stagecoach are among the first major festivals to have been rescheduled in an attempt to swerve the outbreak, but then to have been ultimately cancelled.
In the UK, Glastonbury, Isle of Wight, Download and Reading and Leeds festivals are among the hundreds of events forced to abandon their plans for 2020 in the face of the pandemic.
