Dr. Anthony Fauci, our unelected overlord, has some more disheartening news for theater lovers. The physician doesn't think theaters should open back up until a vaccine has been around for about a year.
"When are we going to be able to sit in a theater and watch our favorite performers up on stage again?" actress Jennifer Garner asked Dr. Fauci in an Instagram Live chat.
"I think it’s going to be a combination of a vaccine that has been around for almost a year and good public-health measures," Fauci answered.
The good news is the Trump administration has prioritized the development of a vaccine for the Wuhan coronavirus and is pursuing Operation Warp Speed at a breakneck pace, as the name suggests, to find an effective vaccine for COVID-19.
The bad news is the development of an effective vaccine is still some time coming, and Dr. Fauci says "just about everybody" will need to be vaccinated with a "really good vaccine" before the top doctor feels like it will be safe again for Americans to walk into a theater without a face mask.
"If we get a really good vaccine and just about everybody gets vaccinated, you’ll have a degree of immunity in the general community that I think you can walk into a theater without a mask and feel like it’s comfortable that you aren’t going to be at risk," Fauci continued.
As TheaterMania points out, even if a vaccine was created by the end of 2020, the earliest most Americans could start being vaccinated would be fall 2021. Theaters were closed down in early March.
Broadway is planning on reopening in March but, if Dr. Fauci has his way, that could all change.