The Recording Academy plans to move the Grammys to March.
Due to Covid-19’s massive impact on Los Angeles County, the Grammys have officially been postponed to March 14. ViacomCBS announced the news on Tuesday; the show was originally set to air on January 31.
In a joint statement, Recording Academy interim president Harvey Mason Jr., CBS Executive Vice President of specials, music, live events, and alternative programming Jack Sussman, and Grammy Awards Executive Producer Ben Winston said that after having “thoughtful conversations” with health experts, they had decided back the ceremony’s date.
“The deteriorating COVID situation in Los Angeles, with hospital services being overwhelmed, ICUs having reached capacity, and new guidance from state and local governments have all led us to conclude that postponing our show was the right thing to do,” reads the statement. “Nothing is more important than the health and safety of those in our music community and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly on producing the show.”
According to Johns Hopkins University, California currently has 2.5 million confirmed cases as of Tuesday, the most in the country. More than 356,000 people have died in the state.
“The devastating impact of the pandemic is disrupting emergency medical care due to the sheer volume of COVID-19 patients and staffing limitations,” the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said in a release. “These challenges will get worse if we don’t slow COVID-19 spread.”
