The GAA are considering using limited 'rapid testing' on the week of inter-county Championship games if there's a positive case in a panel.
The Association had previously said they wouldn't be testing players for coronavirus but the the GAA's director of club, player and games administration Feargal McGill announced their change in position during a media conference call this afternoon.
“We’re currently examining what I would call a very limited rapid testing approach which will be only used in the three or four days leading up to a game if there was a positive test in a squad. Now it would be hugely different to what is in professional sports but it might be something that helps us to ensure both the health of the players and that the game can go ahead.
“It’s currently at tender stage so I can’t really comment much more but I would emphasise again it would be a very limited approach.
"I’d also emphasise to be fair our current control measures and just how well they’ve worked at club level. There’s only a really tiny proportion of the thousands of games that have been scheduled had to be postponed for COVID-19 reasons and actually in reality even that handful, they could probably have gone ahead.
"It’s just that the fixture calendar allowed them to be postponed. We haven’t really had a situation where there’s been more than one or two players.”
McGill added that the postponement of inter-county games are unlikely this winter due to the tight window in which matches need to be completed.
“Look there have been very few instances where an entire team, in fact there have been none, where an entire team has been ruled out. So we’re not really anticipating that. The calendar doesn’t really allow much time for postponements.
“One of the regulations that will be going into our competitions, I don’t mind telling you this, is that really we’ll only be able to grant postponements where there’s a 13-day window between the round where the team is looking for the postponement and the next round of the competition."
