“The virus will make the decision for us.”

Of all the quotes that have circulated around the world regarding the Coronavirus crisis, it is perhaps those chilling eight words that will scare NFL and sports fans in general the most.

Sport is a huge source of comfort and entertainment to millions of Americans, as well as fans from around the world. The news that the NFL may not return as early as some hoped – perhaps naively – for will come as a body blow that is felt as immensely as any of the tackles we long to see on the football field.

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, must hardly be able to believe quite how high profile he has become in the past seven weeks. Often front and centre during U.S. COVID-19 press conferences, he has become both a touchstone for the official message and something of a meme after his reactions to some of President Trump’s high-profile speeches have caused ripples felt thousands of miles west and east of the Oval Office’s press centre.