The Omicron variant has caught up with two major American cultural events. The Grammy Awards postpone their awards ceremony indefinitely and the Sundance Film Festival opts for a 100% virtual formula. Citing the “uncertainties surrounding the Omicron variant”, the Academy of Record, which organizes the Grammy Awards, considered that the maintenance of the show scheduled for January 31 in Los Angeles “simply involves too many risks”.
A new date for this evening traditionally bringing together hundreds of artists will be announced “soon”, said the press release on Wednesday.
Ultra-majority Omicron in the United States
The organizers of the Sundance festival which was to open on January 20 in Utah (west) have also had to give in to the “surprisingly high transmission rates of the Omicron variant”, forgoing all planned events in the flesh. . The festival will therefore take place again “this year online”, they deplore, regretting that they cannot implement the “hybrid experience” that they had prepared, precisely taking into account this new variant of the coronavirus.
Omicron has become the ultra-majority variant of Covid-19 in the United States, where more than a million new cases of contamination were recorded in 24 hours last Monday, a record.
Priority to health and safety
“The health and safety of members of the music community, the public and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly to produce our show remain our number one priority,” argues the Académie du CD.
The organizers of the Sundance Festival have a similar mindset: “We don’t believe it is safe or even feasible to bring together thousands of artists, spectators, staff, volunteers and partners from around the world for eleven days of festival while overwhelmed communities struggle to provide essential services ”.