Indoor concerts to be allowed in California from later this month

Indoor gigs are set to return to the US state of California this month as the COVID-19 vaccination programme in the region continues.

From April 15, the state will allow indoor concerts, sporting events, conferences and theatre performances to be held again in eligible areas.

California’s new Blueprint for a Safer Economy identifies certain areas in the state as being Red, Orange or Yellow depending on local case rates, with permitted capacities depending on which colour the area is given.

For venues in the Red tier, arenas with capacities of up to 1,500 will be able to operate at 10% capacity, or 20% capacity if the venue holds upwards of 1,500. Higher percentages will be allowed in Orange and Yellow tiers.

California Public Health Officer Dr. Tomás Aragón confirmed that attendees at any events will need to bring proof of vaccination with them to be granted entry, but anticipates that “in the future that the solution will be digital.”

As of yesterday (April 2), 18million people have been vaccinated in the state of California, with only 2,414 cases on the day.

Last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced the launch of a new digital vaccine passport in a bid to restart live events safely in the US state.

Designed in partnership with IBM, New York’s ‘Excelsior Pass’ is a free but voluntary platform that uses proven and secure technology to confirm if an individual has either been fully vaccinated against coronavirus or has recently tested negative for the virus.

In the UK, news of the government’s proposed roadmap out of lockdown, which plans to allow large-scale events with no social distancing in the UK from June 21, a number of festivals have vowed to go ahead this year.

Reading & Leeds shared their plan to hold their pair of festivals as planned in August, quickly selling out in the process, while Live Nation sold over 170,000 festival tickets in the three days following the announcement of the roadmap.

Last month, R&L said they believe that attendees will “almost certainly” require a COVID vaccine passport in order to attend the festivals.

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