Outdoor sports should return in April, according to Trinity Professor Luke O’Neill.
On The Pat Kenny Show this morning, Professor O’Neill said there is “good evidence” that sports like golf, tennis and cycling are safe.
He said the UK is examining ways to reopen outdoor sports as soon as possible and urged the Government to bring them back as soon as Level Five ends on April 5th.
“To my knowledge there is no evidence that golf was a source of infection or tennis was,” he said.
“Now clearly, if you go inside and you are in a tennis club and you are indoors then there is a risk but the events themselves, as far as I am aware, there is no evidence they gave rise to infections when we had them open.
“So, they are actually very safe activities.
“Now, there could be guidelines. Some clubs I know have their own guidelines for instance but certainly you could have a standardised set of guidelines to allow golf, tennis and so on to start again and it should happen in April.
“As ever, we wait for the numbers don’t we but if the numbers are going in the right direction, I can’t see any problem with restarting those things after April 7th.”
Golfers at the Royal Curragh Golf Club in County Kildare, 25-05-2020. Image: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNewsHe said the UK aims to issue guidelines for the safe return of outdoor sport in the near future – and Ireland should follow suit.
“The event itself is safe, it is more the transport to and from the event and then also the gatherings that happen,” he said
“So, they are saying why can’t we start these things? Because they are so important for mental health, for children playing sport and all those things.
“The UK, yet again, will probably get there first and we will follow them. One strong recommendation I am reading from the UK is that we should start this as soon as possible.
“Now for us, April 8th seems to be our next moment so they should start sport after April 8th and start it in a safe way.
“We know what to do now to limit spread of this virus and you can restart these outdoor sporting events relatively safely.”
He noted that being outdoors “decreases transmission anyway” so the main issue for health officials will be working out a way to prevent people mixing on their way to a sporting event and before and after it gets underway.
Johnson & Johnson
Professor O’Neill also said the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine should be available for use in Ireland in less than a month, with the US Federal Drug Administration likely to approve it today.
“The FDA have said it is good,” he said. “Highly efficacious and highly safe. We knew this already mind you but they made a statement yesterday and now they will approve it.
“Probably today they will give the official approval so J&J will be our next vaccine to deploy and as you know, our numbers depend on J&J because it is a one-shot vaccine that keep in the fridge.
“There are millions and millions of doses on order by the EU so that is or next vaccine to come to Ireland. I expect it will be in Ireland in about three to four weeks, that kind of timeframe.”
He noted that J&J is one of the world’s leading vaccine manufacturers and has pledged to deliver around two billion doses this year alone.
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