Dr Zeke Emmanuel, director of the Healthcare Transformation Institute at the University of Pennsylvania and host of a new podcast about coronavirus called Making the Call, has claimed that “larger gatherings” including concerts may not return until “fall 2021 at the earliest.”
Emmanuel was speaking as part of a roundtable piece in New York Times Magazine. When asked about restarting the American economy, he said:
“Restarting the economy has to be done in stages, and it does have to start with more physical distancing at a work site that allows people who are at lower risk to come back. Certain kinds of construction, or manufacturing or offices, in which you can maintain six-foot distances are more reasonable to start sooner. Larger gatherings — conferences, concerts, sporting events — when people say they’re going to reschedule this conference or graduation event for October 2020, I have no idea how they think that’s a plausible possibility. I think those things will be the last to return. Realistically we’re talking fall 2021 at the earliest.”
The comments follow the cancellations of high-profile events like Coachella and Glastonbury festivals. Read the full piece here.
If you’re a musician or working in music and are looking for support throughout this testing period, find our ongoing list of resources here.
