2020 Coachella uncertain as first coronavirus case hits Riverside County

The Riverside County (RC), a political division in California, has recorded its first coronavirus case, making uncertain the prospects for the 2020 Coachella Festival.

The music and arts festival, which holds annually at the Empire Polo Club situated within Riverside County, recently enlisted Nigeria’s Seun Kuti among its lineup of artistes to perform on stage.

As the coronavirus epidemic continues to spread, another US citizen was said to have been declared positive on Sunday, further fuelling questions as to whether the festival would still hold.

According to TMZ, Cameron Kaiser, RC’s public health officer, said the county is under a public health emergency because of the patient who’s considered the new coronavirus patient.


It was gathered that the facility where the patient is being treated — Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage — is a 25 minutes’ drive away from the Coachella festival site in Indio.

According to Kaiser, a team is presently assessing if the infected individual has been in contact with others ⁠— although decisions are yet to be made as regards the safety of future public events.

There are also calls for the cancellation of the event. A petition on change.org calling for the cancellation of Coachella has received more than 14,000 signatures as of Monday evening.

The event is expected to begin from April 10.

Recall that another event was cancelled on Sunday. The 2020 BNP Paribas Open, set to take place in the same complex as Coachella, the Indian Wells tennis tournament, was called off due to the coronavirus outbreak.