Welcome to the beginning of Month #2 being quarantined. It’s no new news that sporting events, concerts, or really any public gathering are cancelled for at least this spring, summer, and maybe even fall. But, there has to be point where we are able to start congregating again. And when it does, what will it look like? When our government finally gives us the OK to go to large public events again, how will we react?
It’s likely that we won’t go back to normal habits when this quarantine is lifted. The most likely outcome is that ticket sales to events like concerts or sporting events will suffer for about a year based on lingering fears of the virus. The only thing that would really be a boost in morale and confidence attending one of these events would be a vaccine. There has been a lot of speculation about the timeline of a vaccine. Whether it is an optimistic or pessimistic timeline, unfortunately this will directly affect the timing of when we feel comfortable attending public events. My prediction is that it will take up to one year for us to go back to normal in terms of large public events attendance going back to normal. Yes, some people will go back as early as they can, but other people, the lingering fear won’t let them out of the house for years. The more cautious people will let others be the testers of weather it is safe or not. For the most cautious, people, they could be living in fear for up to 3 years. However, considering both sides of the extremes, in about 1 year we will go back to normal public event attendance.
The other interesting dilemma is what the players, athletes, and performers do? What are they doing now and what will they be doing when the quarantine is lifted? Well for now, there is no guessing. They are cooped up like the rest of us. Hopefully they are sharpening their skills in order to come out of this better. However when the quarantine is lifted, there is no telling how this will unravel. Some of the first big public cases of the virus were from sports, specifically basketball. NBA players were some of the first group of people that were under the microscope over the virus. It’s easy to see why basketball players were easily spreading the virus amongst themselves. There is a lot of close contact in basketball while players often sweat on each other and conduct heavy breathing in close proximity. Although the NBA season is most likely cancelled for the rest of the year, it will be interesting to see what happens the first few games back. And this goes for all sports. Will the players feel comfortable again? Will they even come back right away? Or will they be like the viewers who will be skeptical at first, then get over the fear over time.
These are all interesting social dynamics that will happen when this virus is lifted and no one knows how it’ll unfold. But there is one thing for sure. “Back to normal” will take a long time. About 1 year. Maybe more? The fear is what drives our decisions. If we can control the fear by making progress medically, then we may be looking at a sooner and smoother transition back into normalcy. Stay safe everyone.
Dabbl 