Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Yahoo Sports that we could return to full NFL stadiums by September.
In an interview with Yahoo Sports, Fauci said that unrestricted capacities at sports stadiums will be “the last thing that you’re gonna see” and that it’s unlikely that there will be full-capacity crowds watching NBA games during the 2020-2021.
Fauci said it will be “cutting it close” to see full NBA arenas in July, but when asked whether there will be full NFL stadiums in September, he said, “I think that’s possible.”
That depends, Fauci said, on human behavior and the approval of COVID-19 vaccines.
“We're gonna be vaccinating the highest-priority people [from] the end of December through January, February, March,” he said. “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 [with full sports stadiums] – 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,” Fauci added.