Dr. Fauci Addresses When NFL Stadiums Will Be Full Again

Dr. Anthony Fauci told Yahoo! Monday night that a return to normal for the sports world could include full NFL stadiums by the fall. “Oh, that's possible. I think that's possible,” Fauci said of full stadiums in September, before adding that unrestricted capacity at those stadiums will be some of “the last thing that you're gonna see” as the pandemic comes to an end.

As for the NBA, don't be expecting full arenas during the 2020-21 season.

“We're gonna be vaccinating the highest-priority people the end of December through January, February, March,” Fauci told Yahoo!. “By the time you get to the general public, the people who'll be going to the basketball games, who don't have any underlying conditions, that's gonna be starting the end of April, May, June. So it probably will be well into the end of the summer before you can really feel comfortable – if a lot of people get vaccinated. I don't think we're going to be that normal in July. I think it probably would be by the end of the summer.”

The Dallas Cowboys currently lead the NFL in attendance with an average of 26,466 spectators per game. Jerry Jones has said he plans to increase attendance the rest of the season since there have been no claims of fans contracting COVID while attending a game.

Fauci has been active this week with guidance including his plea to open schools. “Close the bars and keep the schools open,” Dr. Fauci told ABC News. “You don’t have 'one size fits all,' but as I said in the past, the default position should be to try as best as possible, within reason, to keep the children in school and to get them back to school. The best way to ensure the safety of the children in school is to get the community level of spread low.”

As for masks at sporting events, Fauci doesn't see that ending soon.

“I think we should be wearing masks as long as there is any of this around,” Fauci said. “Because it's an easy thing to do.”

(Photo by Al Drago - Pool/Getty Images)