For the second straight year, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach Festival have been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Public health officials announced the postponement on Friday, issuing an order barring the events from taking place in April as planned due to the ongoing spike in cases that has roiled California since fall.

“Due to the pandemic, Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser today (Jan. 29) signed a public health order cancelling Coachella Valley Music and Arts, Stagecoach Country Music festivals planned for April 2021,” a tweet from Dr. Kaiser reads. “We look forward to when the events may return.”

Last year’s festivals were among the first to be impacted by the coronavirus, postponing from their normal April dates to October 2020 as the initial wave hit in February and early March. They were later cancelled outright, with a planned return for 2021. But plans for the festivals – Coachella was to take place April 9-18 with Stagecoach following from April 23-25 – were derailed by Dr. Kaiser’s order.

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In the order, public health officials outlined that it was the scope and scale of the festivals that ultimately necessitated their cancellation.

“”Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Stagecoach Country Music Festival are music concerts and gatherings of an international scope, attracting hundreds of thousands of attendees from many countries, including several disproportionately afflicted by the worldwide COVID-19 epidemic,” it reads, in part.

“This order is intended to reduce the likelihood of exposure to COVID-19, thereby slowing the spread of COVID-19 in communities worldwide. If COVID-19 were detected at these festivals, the scope and number of attendees and the nature of the venue would make it inseasible, if not impossible, to track those who may be placed at risk.”

Goldenvoice, which operates both festivals, has not issued public comment regarding the public health decision that has shut them down for the time being. Reschedule dates for the 2021 festivals have also not yet been announced.

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