Fauci -- one of the lead doctors on Trump's Coronavirus Task Force -- spelled it all out in a conversation with Peter King's "Football Morning in America."

"This is a respiratory virus, so it’s going to be spread by shedding virus," Fauci explained.

"The problem with virus shedding is that if I have it in my nasal pharynx, and it sheds and I wipe my hand against my nose -- now it’s on my hand. You see, then I touch my chest or my thigh, then it’s on my chest or my thigh for at least a few hours."

"Sweat as such won’t transmit it. But if people are in such close contact as football players are on every single play, then that’s the perfect set up for spreading. I would think that if there is an infected football player on the field -- a middle linebacker, a tackle, whoever it is it -- as soon as they hit the next guy, the chances are that they will be shedding virus all over that person."

Then Fauci added this ...

"If you really want to be in a situation where you want to be absolutely certain, you’d test all the players before the game. And you say, 'Those who are infected: sorry, you’re sidelined. Those who are free: get in there and play.'”

Fauci stressed that if football is going to return, the leagues need to have intense testing plans ... because weekly testing won't be enough.

"If I test today, and I’m negative, you don’t know if I got exposed tomorrow ... there’s no guarantee that you’re going to get exposed and be positive the next day."

He added, "To be 100% sure, you’ve got to test every day. But, that’s not practical and that’s never going to happen. But, you can diminish dramatically by testing everybody Saturday night, Sunday morning, and say, 'okay, only negative players play.'"

So, the big question -- will there be NFL football in the fall?