Dinner and a movie? Maybe not for a while, says Dr. Fauci
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says moviegoers may have to wait another year or more before being able to enjoy their favorite Friday night activity.
In an interview on Instagram Live with actress Jennifer Garner, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert said Americans need to wait nearly a year after a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine is created before going to the movies or theaters without a mask.
“I think it’s going to be a combination of a vaccine that has been around for almost a year and a good public health measures,” Fauci told the actress. If a vaccine is created by November or December, he said, that would mean the soonest the majority of the population can be vaccinated is mid-2021.
For those thinking about dining out instead of a movie, a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that adults with confirmed COVID-19 were about twice as likely as other study participants to say they had eaten at a restaurant in the 14 days before becoming sick.
Also, positive patients were more likely to report going to a bar or coffee shop when the analysis was limited to those without close contact to people with known coronavirus.
The study included 314 symptomatic adults who were tested for COVID-19 in July at 11 health care facilities in multiple states. Of that group, 154 patients tested positive for COVID-19.