In April, when the COVD-19 pandemic was still in its early days, oncologist and bioethicist Zeke Emanual suggested that large community gatherings, such as live shows, were unlikely to be safe until “autumn 2021 at the very least.” At the time, most of us received this news with horrified disbelief. But, after months of overwhelming uncertainty, the fall of 2021 suddenly doesn’t seem that far away. Last weekend, Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s most trusted pandemic authority, confirmed that live music could return sometime in the fall. At that point, this is good news.
The New York Times reports that Fauci had a virtual conference on Saturday with people from the world of performing arts. During this call, Fauci gave a vague deadline for when the music and theater venues could be reopened. It will require American authorities to vaccinate somewhere between 70-85% of the population, leading to collective immunity.
Here’s what Fauci said:
If all goes well, it will happen sometime in the fall of 2021, so that when we arrive from early to mid-autumn, you can make people feel safe on stage, as well as people in the audience … I think you can then start to go back to almost full seat capacity. We will be back in theaters – the artists will perform, the audience will have fun. It will happen.
This is probably not very consoling for artists like Weeknd, Rage Against The Machine and Justin Bieber, who rescheduled arena tours from last summer to the summer of 2021. Fauci’s reassuring words also assume that the COVID vaccines will be implemented efficiently , and it hasn’t really happened yet. Still it is something.