California Governor Suggests All Gatherings Over 250 People Be Postponed Or Canceled

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California seems to be following Washington state’s lead on dealing with the coronavirus. This morning, Governor Gavin Newsom of California issued a statement from public health experts that asks event organizers to cancel or postpone any event with more than 250 people. The statement also mentions that gatherings of less than 250 people should practice social distancing (meaning people should stay about 6 feet away from each other).

This statement from the Governor is not a mandated ban, so it differs significantly from Washington’s actions. We doubt that event organizers, however, will simply ignore what the public health experts have to say.

“Changing our actions for a short period of time will save the life of one or more people you know,” said Governor Newsom. “That’s the choice before us. Each of us has extraordinary power to slow the spread of this disease. Not holding that concert or community event can have cascading effects — saving dozens of lives and preserving critical health care resources that your family may need a month from now. The people in our lives who are most at risk – seniors and those with underlying health conditions — are depending on all of us to make the right choice.”

This will affect many of the concerts and festivals set to take place in California. Artists like Tame Impala, Post Malone, and more have already canceled their tour stops in California. Notable others like Thom Yorke have large tour stops that are most likely to be canceled. The massive Insomniac music festival Beyond Wonderland will also most likely be affected.

As always, the goal of these ideas is to stay ahead of the game and try to keep transmission of the coronavirus to a minimum. Although many of us have committed our social and professional lives to events, it’s hard to not take a step back and really evaluate what needs to be done here.