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Dr. Fauci has a feeling country music concerts will return by fall 2021. If you’ve been coping without live music or events, Anthony Fauci, M.D. has some good news for you. According to the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, concerts could return as early as this fall. But there are some important things that we need to address in the meantime, according to Dr. Fauci.
It all depends on the coronavirus vaccine rollout. If efforts improve, then theaters and venues could open “some time in the fall of 2021.” Dr. Fauci made the prediction at the conference of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, according to the New York Times.
Dr. Fauci gives country fans some good news
The news occurred during a virtual conference held by the Association of Performing Arts Professionals. Dr. Fauci addressed the economic impact the entertainment and performance industries faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus first made its impact in the U.S. In early 2020. Many country music concerts and tours were canceled in March of that year.
Fauci said that a reopening would depend on the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. In order for the U.S. to achieve herd immunity, 70 percent to 85 percent of the population would have to get the vaccine.
“If everything goes right, this will occur sometime in the fall of 2021,” 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.”
But that’s a big “If.” The vaccine rollout is already behind schedule in the U.S. The Centers for Disease and Control Prevention reported that by the end of 2020, only 2.8 million people received their first dose of the vaccine. That’s only a small fraction of the 20 million people. However, that data could also be due to a reporting lag.
Do country music concerts spread the virus?
During his virtual appearance at the conference, Fauci also cited a German study of an indoor concert staged by scientists in August 2020. The study revealed that country music concerts could have a “low to very low” impact on the spread of the virus. The event organizers had to follow strict protocols such as “adequate ventilation, strict hygiene protocols, and limited capacity.” That brings some more good news to an industry that’s been hit by the pandemic.
However, the logistics of reopening concert venues are still muddled. In November 2020, Billboard reported that Ticketmaster was considering various ways of ensuring the safety and health of fans at concert events. They even floated the idea of requiring all attendees to prove their vaccination status, which received backlash.
It’s hard to tell what life will look like in a post-pandemic world. But not everyone is looking forward to the return of concerts. In a Spring 2020 survey, 56 percent of U.S. customers said it would take them “a few months” to “possibly never” visit an indoor venue again after everything is normal again.
What do you think? Are you looking forward to the return of country music concerts? Sound off below in the comments.