Good news for outdoor sports fans, the chances of COVID-19 being spread during professional sport is very low.
That’s according to doctor Chris Orton, a research fellow at London’s Chelsea and Westminster hospital
and a recipient of a UK Research and Innovation grant to investigate aerosol release in elite sport in relation to coronavirus.
“The virus is spread through aerosol, in droplets, so droplets are larger water-based particles, aerosols are the very finest particles that are released during any human activity, breathing, running, talking etc. You are going to get huge dispersal in an outside environment almost immediately.”
Dr. Orton went on to say that there have been no confirmed cases of transmission during a sporting match or training within the UK.
Rugby players involved in scrums had some increased risk, but the chances of transmission in matches was not necessarily higher than in other sports.
“With the benefit of video play back and GPS tracking it is very easy then to see who has been in contact with whom and then there can be some targeted additional testing on the basis of a positive result. So certain activities of different sports will carry more risk. But no, not just per se stepping out on to the rugby pitch it is going to be the same as stepping out on to any other.”
