Dr. Anthony Fauci talked about life during the pandemic and shared, that even though he’s “dying” to see the Nationals “play again, it might not be in person.”
The comments came during a wide-ranging interview about the coronavirus on Peter Hamby’s Snapchat series with the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in which he suggested Major League Baseball could begin in July with player testing and without crowds, according to Vanity Fair magazine in a piece published Wednesday. (RELATED: Pearl Jam Postpones North American Tour Over Growing Coronavirus Concerns)
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“You know, regarding sports, I believe, and I think this is going to be implemented by the initiation and the initiative of the people who own these clubs,” Fauci shared. “If you could get on television, Major League Baseball, to start July 4.” (RELATED: Here Are The Members Of Congress Self-Quarantining After Meeting Person With Coronavirus At CPAC)
“Let’s say, nobody comes to the stadium,” he added. “You just, you do it. I mean people say, ‘Well you can’t play without spectators.’ Well, I think you’d probably get enough buy-in from people who are dying to see a baseball game. Particularly me. I’m living in Washington. We have the World Champion Washington Nationals.”
Fauci continued, “You know, I want to see them play again. But there’s a way of doing that because there have been some proposals both at the level of the NFL, Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, to get these people tested, and to put them in big hotels, you know, wherever you want to play.”
“Keep them very well surveilled, namely a surveillance, but have them tested, like every week,” the director explained. “By a gazillion tests. And make sure they don’t wind up infecting each other or their family. And just let them play the season out. I mean, that’s a really artificial way to do it, but when you think about it, it might be better than nothing.”
On Tuesday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred explained what needed to happen before the season could start and it included the “public health situation” must be improved, per CBS.
“The only real decision that we have made, the only real plan that we have is that baseball is not going to return until the public health situation has improved to the point that we’re comfortable, that we can play games in a manner that’s safe for our players, our employees, our fans, and in a way that will not impact the public health situation adversely,” Manfred said.
“So, right now, it’s largely a waiting game,” he added. “During that period, as you might expect, any business will be engaged in contingency planning. We thought about how we might be able to return in various scenarios, but again, the key is the improvement in the public health situation.”
