Dr. Fauci Believes Venues Could Reopen For Live Music This Fall

The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, discussed the potential return of live music and entertainment during a virtual conference organized by the Association of Performing Arts Professionals held this past Saturday, January 8. Dr. Fauci told those watching that he feels “some time in the fall of 2021” is when he believes theaters and other venues could reopen as per the New York Times’ report on the conference.

The U.S. first needs to distribute enough vaccine to accomplish “an effective level of herd immunity, which he defined as vaccinating from 70 percent to 85 percent of the population,” according to the Times. “If everything goes right, this will occur some time in the fall of 2021,” Dr. Fauci said, “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.”

Though Dr. Fauci feels attendees will still be required to wear masks as the venues reopen, he’s hopeful other restrictions may not be neccessary:

Speaking to Maurine Knighton, the program director for the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Dr. Fauci said that if vaccine distribution succeeded, theaters with good ventilation and proper air filters might not need to place many restrictions for performances by the fall — except asking their audience members to wear masks, which he suggested could continue to be a norm for some time. “I think you can then start getting back to almost full capacity of seating,” he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to huge financial losses for the live music industry since March. Congress recently passed a COVID-19 stimulus package that will provide $15 billion in relief funding for independent live music venues.

[via New York Times]