Contributed by Diamond Bullock

Coachella is reportedly being postponed until October due to the coronavirus outbreak. The popular annual music festival was initially scheduled for the weekends of April 10 and April 19, but it has been moved to the weekends of October 9 and October 16. This was possibly in result of a Change.org petition titled “Cancellation of Coachella 2020 music festival due to COVID-19 Outbreak”, which collected more than 15,000 signatures as of Monday. The petition organizer, Stella Young, wrote: “COVID-19 outbreak hit California. Large personnel gathering event can be extremely dangerous especially when participants travel all around the world attending the event.”

Coachella began in October 1999 in Indio, California as a smaller festival, attracting around 25,000 attendees. Over the years, the festival has grew both in size and popularity, attracting an average of more than 250,000 attendees in recent years. The festival spans over two consecutive weekends with star-studded lineups, including past headliners such as Beyonce, Jay-Z, Prince, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Drake, Calvin Harris, Childish Gambino, Outkast, and more. The festival also consists of a ferris wheel, camping trucks, company-sponsored interactive activities, a variety of food and drink vendors, and more. The tickets range from $429 to $999 for an entire weekend. More information can be found on Coachella’s official website.

AJC reports more than 130 cases have been confirmed in California with two deaths. In Riverside County near the Coachella site of Indio, there are three confirmed cases in total. Riverside County officials have released a statement to Los Angeles Magazine: “The City of Indio is actively monitoring input from local, state, and national health officials to assess the health risks of COVID-19 and update those risks to stakeholders.” However, a state of emergency has not been declared in the county.

According to TMZ, the postponement has been confirmed by several sources including agents of the musical acts, the musical acts, and journalists with close sources to Coachella. Scheduled musical act Pearl Jam went on social media to confirm. Coachella has not released an official statement as of yet. Coachella’s promoter Goldenvoice has to inform the reps of all scheduled acts.

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As residents of the city of Seattle, we’ve been hit hard and have witnessed firsthand how quickly these disastrous situations can escalate. Our kids’ schools have closed along with universities and businesses. It’s been brutal and it’s gonna get worse before it gets better. So we are being told that being part of large gatherings is high on the list of things to avoid as this global health crisis is now beginning to affect all of our lives. Unfortunately, communing in large groups is a huge part of what we do as a band and the tour we’ve been busy planning for months is now in jeopardy… We have and will always keep the safety and well-being of our supporters as top priority. So it is with deep frustration and regret that we are forced to make this most unfortunate of announcements… This scheduled first leg of our PJ/Gigaton tour will need to be postponed and shows rescheduled for a later date. We’ve worked hard with all our management and business associates to find other solutions or options but the levels of risk to our audience and their communities is simply too high for our comfort level. Add to that we also have a unique group of passionate fans who travel far and wide. We’ve always been humbled by this and respect their energies and devotion. However in this case, travel is something to avoid. It certainly hasn’t helped that there’s been no clear messages from our government regarding people’s safety and our ability to go to work. Having no examples of our national health department’s ability to get ahead of this, we have no reason to believe that it will be under control in the coming weeks ahead. Again, here in Seattle what we are witnessing we would not wish for anyone. What we do wish for the rest of the country is that they can avoid the harsh negative effects of this and retain their sense of community and take care of one another. Just as we look forward to our next concerts and the ability to gather together and play loud songs as energized as ever. We are so sorry… And deeply upset.. If anyone out there feels the same based on this news, we share that emotion with you. – Ed & Pearl Jam

A post shared by Pearl Jam (@pearljam) on Mar 9, 2020 at 6:01pm PDT

Other festivals have been affected by the coronavirus outbreak, including SXSW, which has recently been cancelled, and Stagecoach, which is also postponed to October.