The popular Coachella festival is making its return this weekend for the first time since the pandemic started.
125
000 people are expected to visit the festival daily over two weekends.
No
social distancing or the wearing of masks will be mandated, but Covid-19
testing sites will be available.
California’s Coachella will kick off Friday for the first time since 2019, with hundreds of thousands of people flocking to the premier desert music festival, as the United States sees Covid-19 cases edge up.
The
mammoth event that takes place over two three-day weekends — and this year
features Billie Eilish, Harry Styles and the Weeknd with EDM stars Swedish
House Mafia as headliners — traditionally kicks off the year’s summer concert
circuit.
Coachella’s
2020 edition was scrapped as the coronavirus pandemic came into full force, and
two years of chaotic cancellations, rescheduled shows and lineup shakeups
ensued.
As
it returns after a three-year hiatus, Coachella is considered a bellwether for
the multi-billion-dollar touring industry that’s still on shaky ground after
persistent pandemic setbacks.
After
other large-scale festivals including Lollapalooza last year required proof of
vaccination or a negative Covid-19 result, Coachella this winter announced it
would not require any such mitigation measures, including masks or social
distancing.
The
festival is held mostly outside, welcoming some 125,000 revelers daily from all
over the nation and abroad, many of whom camp and fill up hotels nearby.
There
will be two testing sites on festival grounds. Jose Arballo — a senior public
information representative for the public health department of Riverside
County, where Coachella takes place — said there also would be bolstered
testing facilities nearby.
“Any
time you have large groups of people gathering in public settings there’s some
issues there — but we’re hoping that more people will be vaccinated… and that
more people will wear masks anyway,” he told AFP.
“If
people aren’t feeling well, even if it might cost them something financially,
we hope they can forgo going.”
Arballo
said that case numbers in the county had “plateaued in the last couple weeks,”
but “other people will be coming in from all over the country and other places
in the world where maybe the case rates aren’t that low.”
He
also noted that unreported at-home testing has possibly skewed case rate data
downward, and anticipated the county would be able to assess the festival’s
public health impact by the middle of next week — just ahead of the festival’s
second string of dates.
Nationwide,
Covid-19 cases are down sharply from where they were in January but recently
have started ticking up, with the United States averaging approximately 38,000
cases a day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The
vast majority of new cases stem from the highly transmissible Omicron
subvariant, known as BA.2, according to the CDC.
Some
universities have reinstated mask mandates as has the city of Philadelphia, but
for the most part regulations nationwide, including in California, remain
relaxed.
‘Everybody
misses this’
Major
acts playing sets at Coachella include Megan Thee Stallion, Phoebe Bridgers,
Doja Cat and Brazil’s Anitta.
The
Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia were last-minute additions after chaos agent
Kanye West unceremoniously pulled out of his headliner spot.
Travis
Scott pulled out after a deadly concert stampeding tragedy at his Astroworld
show in Houston last year, while 2020’s anticipated headliner Frank Ocean is
set to return to the desert in 2023.
Also
on deck are French rockers L’Imperatrice, superstar DJ Stromae, recent Grammy
winner Arooj Aftab, Palestinian DJ Sama’ Abdulhadi and South Africa’s Black
Coffee, who made Grammy history last week after winning a Grammy for Best
Dance/Electronic Album, the first African act to do so.
And
in a last-minute surprise, Arcade Fire will play a set Friday evening.
Coachella
is a major draw for Indio, the city where it takes place, a desert municipality
of just under 95,000 people whose slogan is “The City of Festivals.”
Along
with Coachella, Indio also hosts major concerts including the folk and country
event Stagecoach.
According
to Indio spokesperson Brooke Beare, the city receives roughly $3 million each
year in direct revenue from the festivals, including ticket-sharing dollars and
transient occupancy taxes from campers.
Beare
told AFP the area “benefits greatly” in every sector, from hospitality to
restaurants and gas stations — and from the festivals themselves, which she
said “bring a vibrancy and energy that is unparalleled.”
Mason
Fouad, owner of the liquor store Mirage in Palm Springs, where many Coachella
attendees stay, told AFP that business at his shop was already up 30 percent.
“Liquor
business blooms in any festival,” Fouad said. “Everybody is expecting this
Coachella will score a way higher record than all the other Coachellas, because
everybody misses this.”
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