Grammy Awards 2021 postponed due to virus fears

What you need to know:

The Recording Academy announced on Tuesday that the ceremony will not take place on January 31, as previously planned, but is instead being pushed to March 14.

Los Angeles. The 2021 Grammy Awards ceremony has been postponed, due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.

The Recording Academy announced on Tuesday that the ceremony will not take place on January 31, as previously planned, but is instead being pushed to March 14.

In most years, the awards ceremony takes place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, which is also where the 2021 ceremony was scheduled to take place.

The Los Angeles area, however, is experiencing a significant increase of COVID-19 infections that is expected to worsen, as NPR reported earlier Tuesday.

 The LA County director of health services, Dr. Christina Ghaly, said at a briefing Monday that many regional hospitals "have reached a point of crisis" and are being forced to make "very tough decisions about patient care."

The Recording Academy, its broadcast partner CBS, and the event's executive producer, Ben Winston issued a joint statement Tuesday which read: "After thoughtful conversations with health experts, our host and artists scheduled to appear, we are rescheduling the 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards to be broadcast Sunday, March 14, 2021.

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. 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."

This year was supposed to represent something of a fresh start for the Grammys, which were overshadowed last year by a variety of bombshell accusations made by the Recording Academy's now-ousted, short-lived former chief, Deborah Dugan, including allegations of sexual misconduct against her predecessor, Neil Portnow, and the Academy's general counsel and former board chair, Joel Katz.