If all goes according to plan, live music could return in earnest in California by this summer.
The state aims to join others in fully reopening their economies this June after a year spent weathering the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, such as the lack of in-person concerts it caused.
California was the first state to implement lockdown restrictions in 2020 because of COVID-19, as CNN reported, but, come June 15, the entire state will stop using the four-tiered “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” action plan that California has been following since August. That means, much like Texas and Mississippi (and Alabama and West Virginia after them), bars and music venues can reopen at 100-percent capacity once the restrictions are no longer in place.
However, the California reopening will come with some caveats, as Rolling Stone noted on Wednesday (April 7) when California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the reopening. Certain conditions must be met for the state’s concert venues to fully open back up, including obeying the current mask mandate, which Newsom said will stay in place, especially for indoor venues.
“This disease is as deadly as it’s ever been,” Newsom said in a statement. “The only thing that we have done is suppress the spread because of the number of vaccines that have been administered and because of mask-wearing. We can now begin planning for our lives post-pandemic.”
He added, “We will need to remain vigilant, and continue the practices that got us here — wearing masks and getting vaccinated — but the light at the end of this tunnel has never been brighter.”
The color-coded system that California uses already has indoor performances slated to return at an unspecified “limited capacity” on April 15. But, should all the restrictions be dropped as planned on June 15, that means that concert halls, community centers, movie theaters and other entertainment venues can let the maximum capacity amount of patrons to come through their doors.
The state economy’s comeback owes a lot to vaccination rates. To date, California has given 7 million more doses than any other state. But will residents need to have proof of vaccination to attend a concert or enter a business? According to CNN, there’s currently no rules in place to enact a “vaccine passport plan,” but individual businesses could set their own standards for admittance.