We are currently living a new normal when uncertainty is more common than precise estimations. Therefore, while we practice social distancing, we should also take time to check in with each other. While we’ve heard a few predictions citing no concerts until spring or fall of 2021 and a tentative pause in the US until 2022, there’s been a few updates on slowly bringing life back to normal.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced a number of steps to have the country return to normal slowly. Social distancing will remain until at least May 3rd. The next step will have shops under a specific size to reopen, followed by; schools that will begin to open on May 4th with priority for students who have exams. The largest push is, mass gatherings will remain banned until August 31st. Therefore, this ban has put festivals such as Wacken Open Air in jeopardy.
During a press briefing yesterday (14th), California Governor Gavin Newsom doesn’t anticipate mass gathering events, including concerts, festivals, and sporting events to happen anytime soon. Newsom expressed how large-scale gatherings will most likely be the last thing to go back to normal.
When asked about the upcoming summer months, Newsom revealed he doesn’t see mass gatherings happen until we get to a vaccine:
“The prospect of mass gatherings is negligible at best until we get to herd immunity and we get to a vaccine. So large-scale events that bring in hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of strangers, all together across every conceivable difference, health and otherwise, is not in the cards based upon our current guidelines and current expectations.”
According to CNBC, Johnson & Johnson could have a COVID-19 vaccine by April 2021. Unfortunately, this leads to more uncertainty in both the coronavirus pandemic and the economic aftermath that will soon follow.
