COVID worries send Emmy Awards show outdoors

LOS ANGELES, Aug 10 (Reuters) – The Emmy Awards ceremony for achievement in television was moved outdoors on Tuesday in the latest setback to live events because of rising concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.

The Sept. 19 ceremony in Los Angeles was initially due to take place indoors before a limited celebrity audience.

“The Television Academy and CBS have decided to host all ceremonies … on the Event Deck at L.A. LIVE, directly behind the Microsoft Theater,” the Television Academy said in a statement.

The Event Deck in downtown Los Angeles is an outdoor space that includes a large tented area.

The statement said the changes followed discussions with Los Angeles County health and safety experts.

It added there would be further limits on the numbers of those invited to the show, including those nominated for the highest honors in U.S. television.

“Unfortunately, this means not all nominees will be able to attend this year’s awards,” the organizers said.

Los Angeles last month reimposed the wearing of masks in all indoor public settings and businesses because of rising numbers of coronavirus infections in the second-largest city in the United States.

Last year’s Emmy Awards took place in an empty studio with nominees from around the world joining on video screens from their homes and gardens.

Concerns over the Delta variant of the virus on Tuesday prompted singer Stevie Nicks, 73, to cancel five concerts she had scheduled for 2021.

“While I’m vaccinated, at my age, I am still being extremely cautious and for that reason have decided to skip the 5 performances I had planned for 2021,” the former Fleetwood Mac musician wrote on Twitter.

The New Orleans Jazz Festival, due to take place in early October, was canceled on Monday because of rising cases of coronavirus in Louisiana.

Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Peter Cooney and Richard Pullin

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