Last week, Costa Rican lawyer and surfer Walter Brenes of Energy Law Firm presented a protocol to the authorities of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) of his country so that professional surfers can practice their sport during the quarantine due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Brenes made the protocol after several of the most prominent surfers in his country raised their concerns (one of them, former world champion Noemar McGonagle, was removed from the water by the authorities a few weeks ago).

What Brenes proposes, and which sources said was initially welcomed by the MSP, is to allow “exceptional access to non-urban beaches for the sole purpose of practicing and training in the different types of water sports individually. In the event that two or more athletes attend the same beach, they must maintain a distance of more than 100 meters between them.”

Surfers must be identified as athletes authorized to surf by means of a professional license and must inform in advance the location and times they will go into the water.

The protocol also indicates that it should be “the responsibility of the Costa Rican Surfing Federation to present the names of 15 surfers, who will be the first to undergo said protocol.”

It is also proposed to carry out a campaign to raise public awareness about beaches and this protocol in order to avoid unnecessary use of resources by law enforcement.

Brenes argues that physical activity is important for reducing mortality worldwide, an issue that has been highlighted by the WHO in numerous studies and is public knowledge.

“It is understood that being a (professional) athlete is a job and it is emphasized that athletes who are registered with the Costa Rica Surf Federation not only work as athletes, but are also required to maintain a high level of performance and training,” says the protocol.

It highlights that the MSP has been emphatic that group and contact sports are prohibited until the numbers related to the COVID-19 pandemic improve. However, given that sports practiced in the ocean are individual, and that there are no artificial facilities in Costa Rica for the practice of such sports, it is considered that the necessary sanitary measures should be generated to enable, on an exceptional basis, the practice of aquatic sports for high-performance athletes, especially considering that, to date, the only proven source of transmission of COVID-19 is respiratory secretions from person to person.

Different countries and states have different policies regarding surfing. In Hawaii, some beaches in California and Australia, surfing is allowed but gatherings on the beach are not allowed. Surfers are asked to maintain a distance of two metres.

In Costa Rica, a few weeks ago, images of a police officer shooting a surfer who was escaping after getting out of the water went around the world.

Scientific studies are not conclusive regarding transmission in the sea, but there is a broad consensus that the virus dies when it touches water (read the article here).