Dr. Anthony Fauci says the reopening of theater and music venues “will happen sometime in late autumn 2021” – if the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine can begin.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases made the announcement during a virtual panel discussion held on Saturday by the Association of Performing Arts Professionals.
He said: “From early to mid-autumn, you can make people feel safe on stage, just like people in the audience.”
However, the relaunch depends on a big “if” – to solve the ongoing problems in the national distribution of the vaccine.
Fauci also revealed that “Hamilton” was the last “magnificent” show he saw live – and warned the conference crowd that the live audience can expect to continue wearing masks in the immediate future, and that venues should probably consider requiring members of the public showed evidence of negative coronavirus test results.
He also encouraged site owners to examine ventilation systems and make appropriate improvements in airflow, and warned that an effective level of herd immunity would mean that 70 to 85% of the population would have received vaccines.
In September, Fauci warned theater lovers that it could take more than a year before they could safely return to Broadway houses.
“I think it will be a combination of a vaccine that has been around for almost a year and good public health measures,” he said at the time. “If we get a really good vaccine and almost everyone gets vaccinated, you will have a degree of immunity in the community at large that I think you can go into a theater without a mask on and feel comfortable about not being at risk. “
Meanwhile, last week Fauci said the new highly contagious strain of COVID-19 is likely to be more widespread across the country than is currently known.
He would be “very surprised” if the new variant that first appeared in the UK had not yet reached “several other states”, he said. “I think it is quite clear that if it is in places like California, New York and Colorado … it will soon be in several other states.”