TIJUANA (Border Report) — The second round of the “Baja Beach Fest” scheduled for this coming weekend in Rosarito has health officials worried to the point they are considering withholding the necessary permits to allow the event to take place.
The first part of the festival drew close to 20,000 people, mostly from north of the border, last weekend.
Many reportedly refused to wear facemasks and did not adhere to other COVID-19 protocols, something that caught the attention of Baja’s Health Secretary Alonso Pérez Rico.
“We will meet with the governor, Jaime Bonilla, he has the final say if the permits will be issued for the second round of this massive event on the beach,” said Pérez Rico.
The state’s top doctor said there were some people who followed precautions but not what was expected.
“We had ordered the use of facemasks and we insisted they’d be used at all times,” he said.
Numbers indicate there were 17,500 tickets sold, which was capacity for the event, but there were said to be others who snuck in and there were an additional 3,000 workers on the site and on the beach.
“We have a good system in place to verify that concertgoers were vaccinated, something that had not been done before,” said Pérez Rico. “We believe 90 percent of attendees who bought tickets were vaccinated.”
According to Pérez Rico, those who were asked to use facemasks and refused were escorted out of the venue.
“Some 1,350 people were forced out for not following instructions during the three-day festival.”
Gov. Jaime Bonilla is expected to make a decision soon on whether to let the second half of the event take place this weekend as planned.
Some of the Baja Beach Fest headliners for Aug. 20-22 include Ozuna, Anuel AA, J. Balvin, Farruko and Karol G.