UPDATE: Yashar Ali reports that Coachella may be moved to October…

Scoop: A source familiar with the arrangements tells me that the Coachella festival will be postponed due to Coronavirus concerns and moved to the weekends of October 9 and 16.

As of now, the same lineup is confirmed to perform.

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) March 10, 2020

Billboard adds, “Organizers hope to know within the next 48 hours if the move is possible. If not, the 2020 versions of Coachella and Stagecoach will likely be canceled.”

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The spread of coronavirus is, obviously, causing major shockwaves. The stock market is plummeting, and ramifications are hitting a lot of industries. The music industry is not exempt from that. Bands like the National, New Order, BTS, and more have cancelled tours. Justin Bieber’s tour was downgraded from stadiums to arenas which … well, is supposedly because of coronavirus. And major annual events are getting called off, too, from Miami’s Ultra to SXSW, a cancellation that particularly rocked the music community.

There were already murmurs that the 2020 installment of Coachella might be threatened by the spread of coronavirus, and those rumblings have only gotten stronger following SXSW getting called off. And now, confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Coachella Valley are raising further concerns.

There are now three more coronavirus patients reported in the area. Another event that takes place in the region, the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, has already been cancelled. There is a petition circulating calling for Coachella to be next, citing concerns about the area’s high concentration of senior residents who would be in more danger from the virus. Coachella going down would be a pretty big deal, and if things continue this way, it seems like it could send real tremors through the music industry.

In the meantime, here is some helpful advice from (theoretical) Coachella headliners Rage Against The Machine.

Washing in the name of…

On this occasion it's best you do what they tell ya pic.twitter.com/unDdBh1HDh

— RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE (@RATM) March 9, 2020