Most sporting events had to be postponed or take place without fans in 2020, but Fauci has high hopes for the summer—especially when it comes to the 2021 Major League Baseball (MLB) season, which is expected to start on April 1. When asked on Feb. 15 if he expects to be able to go to a MLB game this summer, Fauci told NBC, “I do, I can already taste that hot dog.” “I’m fairly certain that as we get into the summer, if the infection rate does go down the way I believe it will, then you’ll be able to go to the ballpark and watch a game,” Fauci said, also acknowledging that this is the latest projection but that there can never be an absolute “guarantee.” And to make sure you’re staying safe until then, If You’re Layering These Masks, the CDC Says to Stop Immediately. Things might not be exactly the way they were before the pandemic, however. Fauci said that while it’s likely that fans will be able to attend sporting events in the summer, “you may not have a crowded, full-capacity packed house,” as gathering numbers could still be restricted. Masks will also probably still be a requirement, as Fauci said during a Feb. 12 Good Morning America interview that we will still be wearing masks “for several, several months into the future.” And for more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb Fauci said that while he does expect that activities like fan-observed sporting events will be back by the summer, the “loosening up of some of these restrictions” will be a slow process. “It’s going to be gradual,” the White House adviser admitted. “I would think by the time we get to the fall—where if we do get that umbrella of herd immunity for people—that we really will be approaching normal. People will be able to dine indoors, to go to the theaters, go to the movies, go to indoor sports and things like that.” As Fauci previously projected, around 75 percent of Americans need to be vaccinated in order to reach this herd immunity. And for a darker prediction, The U.K.’s Top Scientist Has a Chilling COVID Warning for Americans. While Fauci had originally estimated that the general public would be eligible for vaccination by the end of April, he has since moved back this prediction. During a Feb. 16 interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto, Fauci revealed that the new estimated timeline for general public vaccinations was May or June. “If you start talking about when vaccine would be more widely available to the general population, I was hoping that that would be by the end of April. That was predicated on J&J, the Johnson product, having considerably more doses than now we know they’re going to have,” he told CNN, which reported that Johnson & Johnson will have fewer than 10 million vaccine doses ready to ship if they are approved for emergency-use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before the end of February. “That timeline will probably be prolonged, maybe into mid-to-late May and early June.” And for more on that vaccine, These Are the Side Effects of the New Johnson & Johnson Vaccine.
