Coronavirus protest concert blocked by Utah judge

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah judge blocked a concert protesting coronavirus restrictions Friday, siding with county health officials who said the event expected to attract thousands of people could worsen the pandemic.

Judge Dianna Gibson decided there was a real risk of spreading the virus within the audience and others they might carry it back to. The decision came hours after Utah marked its largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases.

“Not allowing this event to move forward under these circumstances is not a deprivation of anyone’s individual constitutional right,” she said. “It is also not government overreach.”

Organizers didn’t immediately say whether they would abide by the orders and cancel the concert by well-known Nashville-based country singer Collin Raye.

The concert scheduled for Saturday has been expected to draw 3,000 to 5,000 people to a remote amphitheater in the desert west of Salt Lake City. It’s organized by the group Utah Business Revival, which has also hosted other protests against business-closure directives aimed at slowing the spread of the virus.

Republican Gov. Gary Herbert has now loosened restrictions to allow nearly all businesses to reopen, but gatherings of more than 50 people are still banned. Organizers found the venue in Tooele County last week, after a backlash pushed them out of their first planned location in Kaysville.

But Tooele County officials again blocked the event, saying that they wouldn’t have time to issue a permit under normal circumstances, much less during a pandemic. The venue’s largest previous event had 700 people.

“If it was thoroughly vetted, maybe this concert could have happened, but not now, not like this,” said Tooele County Attorney Scott Broadhead. “The people that get...