Experts & Scientists: "This Is Going To Be The Greatest Summer Of All Time"

MSN - The summer of 2021 is shaping up to be historic.

After months of soaring deaths and infections, COVID-19 cases across the United States are declining even more sharply than experts anticipated. This is expected to continue, and rates of serious illness and death will plummet even faster than cases, as high-risk populations are vaccinated. Even academics who have spent the pandemic delivering ominous warnings have shifted their tone to cautiously optimistic now that vaccination rates are exploding.

Anthony Fauci had been citing August as the month by which the U.S. could vaccinate 70 to 80 percent of the population and reach herd immunity. Last week, he suddenly threw out May or early June as a window for when most Americans could have access to vaccines. 

If all of this holds true, it would mean that many aspects of pre-pandemic life will return even before summer is upon us. Because case numbers guide local policies, much of the country could soon have reason to lift many or even most restrictions on distancing, gathering, and masking. Pre-pandemic norms could return to schools, churches, and restaurants. Sports, theater, and cultural events could resume. People could travel and dance indoors and hug grandparents, their own or others’. In most of the U.S., the summer could feel … “normal.”

Remember the Summer Of George?

This summer is going to blow that out of the fucking water.

You can feel the electricity in the air already. People are ready to fuckin go. 

I'm not talking about the renegades in Florida and Texas. I'm talking about the poor schmucks in these northern states that have been on lockdown for t̶w̶o̶ ̶w̶e̶e̶k̶s̶ a year now. People with flush checking accounts, and a year of making up to do in the party, vacationing, and hook up departments. 

A few months ago I blogged about a Yale Professor predicting we are in for a repeat of the Roaring 1920's, here in the 2020's.

As in the “roaring ’20s,” which followed the 1918 pandemic, this will plunge humanity into an era of vice and indulgence.

“People will relentlessly seek out social interactions,” said Christakis, naming “sexual licentiousness,” a “reverse of religiosity” and an economic boom as likely trends.

It feels like we're at the starting line waiting for the light to turn green to put the pedal to the floor. We've just been waiting for that "official" greenlight for months on end with no real semblance of an ETA.

But now we've got some of the foremost doctors in the game telling us that "things are going to be a lot more normal than we think a lot quicker than we think"

Insider - There should be enough vaccines by summer to make them widely available to adults (they're not yet authorized for children), though that doesn't mean everyone will choose to get one.

"Just being vaccinated will really equip you to feel a little safer," Blanchard said. "We'll still have to wear masks, but I think we will be able to at least have those outdoor events and be able to get a little bit closer to maybe how things were before."

Already, nearly 50 million Americans have gotten at least one dose of a vaccine. 

"We're going to be much closer to normal than maybe we think," Dr. Walid Gellad said. "I plan on having barbecues and inviting people over."

Public-health and infectious-disease experts are already drafting plans for travel and family fun this summer.

Bloom is thinking of flying cross-country to visit his 9-month-old grandson in California for the first time.

Kass expects two of her three kids to be able to go to a sleepaway camp.

Griffin is planning for a family vacation in August — his first in nearly two years. He said he intended on flying somewhere and "really enjoying the summer," including some indoor dining and movie dates (with masks).

There's a reason to get excited. 

Music Festivals like ACL (my favorite) have announced they're a go. Which is insane to think. 

And even Lollapalooza is reportedly keeping the faith for it to happen in Chicago this summer.

Word on the street is fans will be back for baseball games in July which is huge.

I'm here for it. All of it. I think people are going to go balls out double time. 

All that shit we used to take for granted isn't gonna be the case anymore. From wild concerts to low-key dinner parties, everything is going to be looked at differently.

Those nights you didn't feel like leaving your couch when your friends asked you out to the bar? No more. Those nights you'd rather just order a pizza instead of heading to a restaurant? Fuck that. 

They call the Summer of 1967 "The Summer Of Love" because of all the hippie music, hallucinogenic drug craze, the anti-war movement, and the free-love scene. Let's do one better make the summer of 2021 in America the greatest show the world's ever seen. 

p.s. - After these past few weekends in Chicago, I don't think people are ready to return to normal partying/drinking. At 10 o'clock it's been like zombie land at bars. People passed out all over. Puking on sidewalks like it's St. Patricks Day. People didn't even used to go out til 10 pm here. Now they're wasted and blacked out before midnight. And with the news yesterday that Lord Lightfoot and Master Pritzker granted us the freedom to stay out til 1AM now it's going to be even worse these next few weeks. 1am might as well be 5am. Going to be like Night Of The Living Dead out there. Keep your head on a swivel. 

p.p.s.- can anybody with a brain get in the people who call the shots in this state's ear and tell them this 50% capacity OR 50 people rule makes absolutely zero fucking sense? If you have a 8,000 sq ft space, divided into two floors (like Uproar) you're allowed to technically put 100 people inside, 50 per floor. If you have a massive 20,000 sq ft space like our good friends at Joe's On Weed St, divided between two rooms, you are also allowed to have 100 people. 50 per room. Zero rhyme or reason to any decisions, per usual.