Coachella and sister festival Stagecoach drop all Covid-19 precautions

Coachella will make its long-awaited in-person return this April after cancelling for the past two years due to Covid-19 concerns. The event no longer requires attendees to be vaccinated, with all other precautions dropped today.

This year's edition of the California music and arts festival sees Kanye West, Billie Eilish (barring any further dispute) Harry Styles and Swedish House Mafia acting as prestigious headliners.

The iconic festival will take place over two weekends – April 15-17 and April 22-24. It's sister, significantly more country-focused festival, Stagecoach, will be carried out on Apr 29 – May 1, 2022.

In October of last year, both events announced that they would no longer implement a vaccine requirement, stating: "After seeing first-hand the low transmission data and successful implementation of safety protocols at our other festivals this past month, we feel confident that we can update our health policy to allow for: Negative Covid-19 test taken within 72 hours of the event OR proof of full vaccination.”

Going a step further, organiser Goldenvoice has now decided to remove all remaining Covid-19 precautions including mask mandates and negative tests.

The health and safety precautions on Coachella's website have been updated to say:

"In accordance with local guidelines, there will be no vaccination, testing or masking requirements at Coachella 2022."

"However, the event shall be presented 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; such requirements may include, without limitation, changes to capacity, attendance procedures and entry requirements, such as proof of vaccination and/or negative Covid-19 test, and other protective measures such as requiring attendees to wear face coverings."

The updates coincide with California's statewide termination of mask mandates which went into effect on February 15. The state's guidelines still require vaccinated people to wear masks in some high risk settings such as primary schools, public transportation and heath care facilities.

Coachella was first postponed in March of 2020 and rescheduled to October of the same year, which saw continued cancellations. This was the first time Coachella has been postponed in 20 years.

Frank Ocean, Travis Scott and Rage Against the Machine were billed to headline the 2020 festival. Ocean will instead headline in 2023 while Scott's appearance has been questioned following the Astroworld tragedy.

See the full Coachella 2022 lineup, here.