Coachella and its sister event, Stagecoach will drop all COVID-19 precautions when both music festivals return in April and May 2022.
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The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which will be held two consecutive weekends on April 15-17 and April 22-24, updated its “Health & Safety Rules” web page to read: “In accordance with local guidelines, there will be no vaccination, testing or masking requirements at Coachella 2022.”
On Feb, 15, the Stagecoach Country Music Festival, scheduled for April 29-May 1, tweeted, “There will be no vaccination, testing or masking requirements.”
Both festivals, held in Indio, California are run by Goldenvoice, a unit of AEG Presents, and have not been held since 2019 with cancellations in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. In the fall of 2021, both festivals stated that all 2022 events would require a negative COVID test within 72 hours or proof of vaccination for admission.
COVID cases have recently been dropping in California, according to the California Department of Public Health, following the surge of variants like delta and omicron, and indoor mask mandates have also been dropped within the state.
Though both festivals seem to be lifting all precautions to attend, they also stated that the requirements may change “in accordance with applicable public health conditions as of the date of the event and which may change at any time as determined by federal, state, or local government agencies or instrumentalities, artists or the promoter.”
Both festival websites added, “COVID-19 is an extremely contagious disease that can lead to severe illness and death. There is an inherent and elevated risk of exposure to COVID-19 in any public place or place where people are present and there is no guarantee, express or implied, that those attending the festival will not be exposed to COVID-19.”
This year, Coachella, which drew in 150,000 attendees in 2019, welcomes headliners Billie Eilish, Ye (Kanye West), and Harry Styles, while Stagecoach, which pulled in 80,000 concertgoers three years ago, has Thomas Rhett, Luke Combs, Carrie Underwood lined up for the three-day festival.
It is unclear if other summer festivals like Lollapalooza in Chicago, Outside Lands in San Francisco, Governors Ball in New York and others scheduled for summer 2022 will follow suit. All three required proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test when they returned in 2021.
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Photo: Christopher Polk
