While some NFL teams have recently begun welcoming some fans back into their stadiums, the nation’s chief allergies and infectious disease official expects that fans won’t be able to fill stadiums again until deep into 2021.
In quotes obtained by Sports Business Daily via Pro Football Talk, Fauci explained the even with the development of a vaccine, “mask wearing will continue well into the third or fourth quarter of 2021.”
Fauci also predicted a “graded, gradual progression towards normality.”
“Ultimately, when we get this under control — not only at the domestic, but [at] the global level — we will start to approach what we call normal,” Dr. Fauci said. “I don’t think . . . that it’s going to be at a level where people are going to feel like there are no public-health measures to be implemented until we get to the end of 2021 — at least.”
That timeline could see a significant reduction if the league develops a system which can accurately and quickly test fans at the gate. Though, that technology isn’t being widely used as of yet.