A look ahead at what the Coachella Valley will look like come June 15 when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted

Tuesday, Riverside County officials announced will remain in the orange tier as metrics do not meet moving forward into the yellow tier. This means, the Coachella Valley will need to wait until June 15 for a move back to normal. California is expecting to lift all COVID-19 restrictions on June 15.

“California continues to have one of the lowest positivity rates out of all states in the country…. It is about 0.7% versus other large states like Texas where it’s 3.8% or Florida where it’s 5.5%,” said Dr. Geoffrey Leung, Riverside County’s public health officer during a Riverside County board of supervisors meeting Tuesday.

When California reached June 15, “There will be very limited measures that will remain. It effectively means the capacity and distancing recommendations for most activities and businesses will be going away,” said Leung.

For a place like the Palm Springs Convention Center, those who rent the space can put their own restrictions if they want to. “Most of our clients still want to make sure that they are welcoming their attendees back into a more controlled comfortable environment,” said Rob Hampton, the general manager with the Palm Springs Convention Center. Hampton said that the convention center will follow the state, the county, and city guidelines completely. “We are just absolutely excited to be able to get our people back to work,” said Hampton.

Another big change come June 15 has to do with masks. Those who are vaccinated will no longer need to wear masks. “The going away of masks will be very welcome by many of my patrons along with many of my employees,” said Peter Del Guidice with Mario's Italian Cafe.

California Beyond the Blueprint

There will be some exceptions when it comes to mega events. These kinds of events indoors with 5,000 people or more will require a negative COVID-19 test 72 hours beforehand or have a fully vaccinated confirmation status. For outdoor mega events of crowds more than 10,000 people, a vaccine verification or negative COVID-19 test will be recommended.

News Channel 3's Taban Sharifi will have a live report tonight at 5 p.m. on KESQ.