Seattle, San Francisco Ban Large Gatherings Due to Coronavirus; Concerts Postponed

By Jem Aswad

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Washington Governor Jay Inslee has banned gatherings of more than 250 people in three counties in the state’s the Seattle-Tacoma area through “at least” the end of March, he said at a press conference late Tuesday. Hours later, San Francisco issued a similar ban on gatherings of more than 1,000 people.

“This is an unprecedented public health situation and we can’t wait until we’re in the middle of it to slow it down,” Inslee said, according to King 5 News . “We’ve got to get ahead of the curve. One main defense is to reduce the interaction of people in our lives.”

As noted by Hits Daily Double , multiple venues are affected by the ban, including the 3,000-capacity Paramount Theater and the 1,000-range Showbox and Neptune Theaters, all of which have shows that will likely be postponed or canceled.

Looking ahead, two April concerts at the Tacoma Dome arena — Billie Eilish and Celine Dion — could be affected, and the summer season at the 27,000-capacity outdoor Gorge Amphitheater, which starts in May, could see postponements or cancellations as well.

The city’s Seattle Mariners are in the process of moving all of their scheduled home games for the month of March to away games.

A similar order was made a few hundred miles south in San Francisco, where city officials announced they are prohibiting public and private events of 1,000 or more for “at least two weeks,” according to KRON-4 News . The city’s NBA franchise, the Golden State Warriors, and its baseball San Francisco Giants are both affected by the ban, as are concerts at the 18,000 capacity Chase Center by Tame Impala, Bell Biv Devoe and Post Malone (which have been postponed). The city’s Fillmore Auditorium holds 1,300 people.