Dr. Anthony Fauci offered a grim take in a new interview about when major sporting events will be allowed to resume in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

As social functions and the national economy remain frozen due to social distancing lockdowns, The New York Times released a report on Tuesday about how sports leagues are looking at ways to train players and play games “with or without fans in the seats.” Fauci spoke to the Times about this and said that even though the rate of confirmed Covid-19 cases has decreased throughout the country, a new outbreak could still occur, so it would be very difficult for the sports world to go back to normal this year.

“Safety, for the players and for the fans, trumps everything,” said Fauci. “If you can’t guarantee safety, then unfortunately you’re going to have to bite the bullet and say, ‘We may have to go without this sport for this season.’”

Fauci went on to advise against major sporting events by saying their restart will depend on when America has enough coronavirus testing measures in place to conduct broad evaluations of the public with a quick return on test results. While progress has been made, Fauci said it has not been enough so far, and public events will need to be closely monitored in order to prevent any possible viral resurgence once they start again.

“If we let our desire to prematurely get back to normal, we can only get ourselves right back in the same hole we were in a few weeks ago,” the doctor said. “I would love to be able to have all sports back. But as a health official and a physician and a scientist, I have to say, right now, when you look at the country, we’re not ready for that yet.”

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]