Dr. Fauci Says When Your City Will Open Up Again
Now that a COVID-19 vaccine is here and being administered to the first group of qualifying Americans, the country is hopeful that life will soon be able to go back to normal. However, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, we are still several months away from any semblance of normalcy. During an interview with the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, he took a deep dive into how the pandemic has impacted the theater community, revealing when it will be safe to return to live shows, movies, and all of your other favorite activities. Read on—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You've Already Had Coronavirus.
It Depends on Vaccination
One of the major factors that will determine when life will open up again is when herd immunity is achieved. For that to occur, Dr. Fauci explains that 70 percent to 85 percent of the population will need to be vaccinated. "If everything goes right, this will occur some time in the fall of 2021," he explains, "so that by the time we get to the early to mid-fall, you can have people feeling safe performing onstage as well as people in the audience."
"You have the priorities that are getting vaccinated now—healthcare providers, the elderly people with underlying conditions," he explained. He added that hopefully "open season" (when anyone who wants can be vaccinated) will be a reality in early spring. "By the time we get to April, I would hope that we would have the overwhelming majority of those people vaccinated," he stated. "And then you could have open season in April, May, June, July, and August to get everybody else vaccinated, including children."
"I think by the time we get to the fall of 2021, that we're going to have anybody including children that can go to the theater," he reiterated.
RELATED: If You Feel This, You May Have Already Had COVID, Says Dr. Fauci
How to Survive This Pandemic
As for yourself, follow Fauci's fundamentals and help end this surge, no matter where you live—wear a face mask, social distance, avoid large crowds, don't go indoors with people you're not sheltering with (especially in bars), practice good hand hygiene, get vaccinated when it becomes available to you, and to protect your life and the lives of others, don't visit any of these 35 Places You're Most Likely to Catch COVID.
