(CNN) Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday large gatherings like sporting events or concerts may not resume in the city before 2021 as the US grapples with mitigating the novel coronavirus pandemic.

"It's difficult to imagine us getting together in the thousands anytime soon, so I think we should be prepared for that this year," Garcetti told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room."

"I think we all have never wanted science to work so quickly," he continued. "But until there's either a vaccine, some sort of pharmaceutical intervention, or herd immunity, the science is the science. And public health officials have made very clear we have miles and miles to walk before we can be back in those environments."

Garcetti's assessment -- paired with new comments from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio -- underscores just how far the US is from returning to normal life, even as President Donald Trump has leaned into his desire to reopen the nation's economy by May 1.

"I've got to see in my city real, steady progress, even to start to think about relaxing some of those social distancing standards even a little bit," de Blasio told CNN earlier Wednesday. "I want to get people back to work, of course. I want to get kids back to school. But I think it will take months to go through that whole sequence."

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