According to a recent statement from the Recording Academy, the 64th Annual Grammy Awards scheduled for January 31, 2022, will be postponed because of the sudden uptick in positive COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles due to the easily spread Omicron variant.
The statement says, “After careful consideration and analysis with city and state officials, health and safety experts, the artist community and our many partners, the Recording Academy and CBS have postponed the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards Show. The health and safety of those in our music community, the live audience, and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly to produce our show remains our top priority.”
It continues, “Given the uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant, holding the show on January 31st simply contains too many risks. We look forward to celebrating Music’s Biggest Night on a future date, which will be announced soon.”
This is the second time that the Grammy has been postponed due to the pandemic. Last year, the original January 31 date was pushed back to March 14 due to COVID-19. With the rapidly rising number of cases in L.A., it was likely that a postponement was eminent. According to the Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, “We are, in fact, experiencing the worst of a surge at the moment with the rising number of cases.”
