The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival and the Stagecoach country music festival are being postponed until October due to health concerns from coronavirus, organizers confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
"At the direction of the County of Riverside and local health authorities, we must sadly confirm the rescheduling of Coachella and Stagecoach due to COVID-19 concerns," according to a statement released by Goldenvoice, the events' promoter. "While this decision comes at a time of universal uncertainty, we take the safety and health of our guests, staff and community very seriously."
The postponement was a directive of Riverside County's public health officer, Dr. Cameron Kaiser.
"This decision was not taken lightly or without consideration of many factors," Kaiser said in a statement. "No doubt it will impact many people, but my top priority is to protect the health of the entire community."
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According to Goldenvoice, Coachella was rescheduled for Oct. 9-11 and Oct. 16-18, while Stagecoach will be held Oct. 23-25, both at the Empire Polo Club in Indio. All ticket purchases for the April dates will be honored in October.
Ticket holders will be notified by Friday about how to secure refunds if they are unable to attend the future dates, according to the promoter.
The rescheduling of the music festivals, which annually attract thousands of attendees to the Coachella Valley, followed the cancellation of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, which was scheduled to begin this week.
Three Riverside County residents were recently reported infected with coronavirus on Monday, bumping up the total amount of confirmed cases countywide to six, likely the result of local exposure to the pathogen and not because of overseas travel, the county's public health officer has said.
"It is now considered a case of `community spread,"' according to a Riverside University Health System statement. "Community spread involves transmission of an illness for which the source of infection is unknown. It indicates that the virus was not contracted through relevant travel history, or contact to a known case of COVID-19, and suggests that the virus is present in the community."
At their meeting Tuesday morning, Riverside County supervisors formally ratified a local public health emergency declaration stemming from the novel coronavirus cases in the county, directing key agencies to initiate efforts to mitigate potential impacts of the virus. The county's public health officer unilaterally issued a countywide health emergency on Sunday.
