Dr. Anthony Fauci predicts a return to live music by the fall of 2021… under one condition

This year’s Conference of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP), like just about every other event in the past year, was a downgrade due to coronavirus. Instead of the usual thousands of performance-industry professionals in attendance, and hundreds of live performances, the conference was moved entirely online where attendees engaged in discussions and workshops aimed at finding economic relief in an industry that has been decimated by coronavirus restrictions. The highlight of the conference, and the most salient discussion as it applies to the EDM world, was an interview with top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who assured attendees that live performances, in indoor theatres, would likely return in the fall of 2021.

“We’ll be back in the theaters — performers will be performing, audiences will be enjoying it. It will happen . . . If everything goes right, this is will occur sometime in the fall of 2021, so that by the time we get to the early to mid-fall, you can have people feeling safe performing onstage as well as people in the audience.” 

— Dr. Fauci

The element that most clearly directed this assessment was the process of immunizations that would serve to create herd immunity. Dr. Fauci and other top experts believe that that will occur under one condition: That 70-80% of the population receive the vaccine as it becomes available.

Additionally, there was discussion about air circulation and filtration within these venues as well as continued mask use, even after herd immunity is reached, to slow the spread and create an environment where performance art, including live music, can return to a sense of normalcy. For people at the conference, Dr. Fauci also indicated that he would not be surprised if top venues and theatres followed the lead of some US airlines that now require negative test results for entry.

While the news was greeted with enthusiasm, it does little to relieve the performance industry of catastrophic economic hardship. The industry, according to a survey conducted by the APAP, has suffered losses that have amounted to 14.8 billion dollars. While the recent Save Our Stages Act was passed along with the most recent COVID-19 relief bill, which gives 15 billion to independent music venues across the US, obviously more relief cannot come soon enough.

Via: NY Times.