Dr. Anthony Fauci

Excited Nationals fan, Dr. Anthony Fauci, does interview with Ryan Zimmerman: ‘I’ve been a fan of yours since you got out of UVA’

Two weeks after revealing himself to be a big Washington Nationals fan, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, did an interview with Washington Nationals’ first baseman Ryan Zimmerman.

Fauci, at times seemingly star-struck that he was speaking to Zimmerman, answered several serious questions about the coronavirus pandemic. He also spoke about his love for baseball spanning all of his life and went more into detail about how baseball and other sports could return.

“So, as we start trying to get back to normality and pulling back on some of the strict mitigation, we have a three-phase way to get back to normal,” Dr. Fauci said. “First, you get past the checkpoint, the gateway. Kind of like minor leagues before you get into the big leagues. Then you go into Phase 1, then you go into Phase 2, and then Phase 3. If we do that successfully and there are no major outbreaks, I could foresee any of a number of scenarios. One of the scenarios would be… to see it on TV. Get the players all tested so they’re negative and won’t infect each other. Let them go to a few places where you can play ball and play and watch it on TV. That’s one option. The next option is to do the same thing, but if things are really low, to restrict the number of people in the stadium. Say: When you get online to get your ticket, the way we do back on Capital Street, we stand there and you’re six feet away from the person in front of you instead of face to face when the crowd comes in. The next thing, every fifth seat or every fourth seat. That could be done. The best of all, if things really work out well, you could have a regular season. I hope there’s some form of baseball this summer even if it’s just TV.”

(more…)