Professor Samuel McConkey from the RCSI has given us some practical indications as to how sport may return in Ireland post-Coronavirus, with a geographical split quite possible.
Professor McConkey was on OTB AM with Ger and Eoin earlier, and said the vastly different levels of coronavirus in rural Ireland versus the urban centres may actually have a bearing on where sport returns first.
"There might also be a different rate in different counties. The rate of Covid-19 is more in Dublin, a lot of cases with the big population. But some parts of rural Ireland have been relatively spared.
"So it may be that the risks are very, very different in different parts of our country. It's possible they could be playing sport in Kerry while the Dubliners are still locked up!
"That's probably very divisive and very unpopular, but on a technical level it's conceivable... that's a possible future as well.
"In Milan the restrictions were much different from other parts of Italy. In China restrictions in Wuhan and Hubei were started earlier and lasted longer than the restrictions in other parts of China.
"So other countries like Italy and China have done that differential type of restrictions and differential timing of relaxation of restrictions. At a public health level it can become challenging, because you end up with a different message for different groups of people."
Professor McConkey also said that although crowd control would be a challenge, it is feasible that we could be attending matches in a controlled environment at some point.
"I think it's possible we could have social events where people are spaced out by three or four metres. Many of our grounds have a lot of seats, but there's only a quarter of them full.
"You could of course sit beside people you live with... perhaps wearing masks would be a first step. It would be a challenge around the entry and exit points, the pinch points, the crowd control.
"I'm thinking of us all crowding six deep at a bar to get a drink - that's the antithesis of social distancing! That's a real challenge - I know the Scandinavians are doing open bars, but their idea of drinking is different from ours... and it's outrageously expensive!"
There is still no indication when or indeed if the current Premier League season will be returning cross-channel, and he acknowledges it may be an option if entire squads and non-playing staff are kept together in close quarters.
"As long as both teams are doing a really good cocoon bubble around them, then you can merge those two bubbles temporarily. It's a safe thing to do technically, as long as both teams are in a really effective bubble for the previous fourteen days.
"If neither team has any Covid-19 on that team, then they won't share it with somebody else. As long as you're sure the team you are playing is coronavirus free, then you can get involved with them.
(200405) -- WELLINGTON, April 5, 2020 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks during covid-19 coronavirus media update in Wellington, New Zealand on April 5, 2020. New Zealand government believed that the country can put COIVD-19 under control, as the country reported on Sunday the total number of COVID-19 cases reached 1,039 in the country. (Hagen Hopkins/Getty/Pool via Xinhua)"The other model I'd like to celebrate is the one in New Zealand... they have beaten us in this! They have almost all of New Zealand coronavirus free, so they're now one big bubble."
Professor McConkey wasn't quite as optimistic about GAA, given players are amateur and as such cannot avoid working in their day jobs and mixing with more people.
"I personally can't see a way to do that safely at this point in time now. If we were almost down to no cases... in a near-elimination stage... known cases of transmission are much less worrying than cases just popping up here and there unexpectedly.
"Then perhaps if we knew there were no cases going on in the team members of Team A and Team B, in their families, and households, and coaching staff, then perhaps with a little bit of risk, you could potentially get back to doing some team sports."
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