72% of American Fans Want a Covid-19 Vaccine before They Return

The randomness as to where and how the Covid-19 virus strikes puts key decisions about dealing with it into a hazy gray area.

There's nothing gray about the life-&-death threat it presents, though.

So when debates rage over when the right time will be to lighten up on the lockdowns and start bringing business back into everyday life, there's no clear-cut indicator to point the way.

 

Being real, there's only one development that'll be definitive:

A proven-effective vaccine to stop Covid-19 in its tracks.

Until that happens, no matter who announces what as to when it's safe to get back out there and stimulate, most citizens are gonna take it with a grain of salt.

A recent poll of sports fans -- indisputably the salt of the earth -- confirmed this point pretty damn emphatically. Seton Hall's Sharkey Institute found that 72% of the USA's fans aren't going anywhere near a stadium, arena, course, or court until someone announces a vaccine is here.

 

Unfortunately, a responsible baseline of 12-18 months to develop and confirm a new vaccine is where the process stands right now.

Science, though, never stands still. Urgent work is already under way to squeeze that time frame:

 

While four months is well and truly an impressive improvement, odds are that's still too late to give MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS fans the confidence to attend games.

However, it could mean a late start for NFL and  subsequently NCAA football would be a more viable possibility.

The bottom line is this: anyone -- and that means anyone -- is fooling themselves if they think they can set a date for 'reopening' the country. Covid-19 controls the timeline.

 

So far, only MLB and MLBPA have had the good sense to say the public health officials are the crew from whom they're taking their cue.

They're not even planning on games in empty stadiums until they get it.

Now that an overwhelming majority of fans have expressed their sentiments, sports normalcy is just gonna have to wait for the scientists do their thing. Maybe everyone else should, too.