Coronavirus 2020 – Can Santa Claus Travel or Is Christmas 2019/2020 Cancelled? — Prof. Emer Shelley (Faculty of Public Health, Ireland)

Host:
“Professor Shelly I mean do you think overall people should be planning to have a different Christmas?

It’s going to be smaller celebrations, it’s going to look different isn’t it?

I know that one thing you have pointed out though that there won’t be any travel restrictions for Santa?”

Professor Shelly:
“That’s correct. Turkey producers here are planning to produce a higher proportion of small turkeys, anticipating smaller gatherings.

And yes we have considered whether or not Santa Claus can travel this Christmas.

It’s a serious issue because we’ve just been talking about travel and just between countries but Santa Claus of course travels all around the world.

So is he at risk of transmitting the virus really right around the world?

And is there risk for Santa Claus himself? Because he’s not exactly thin, in fact if he were having a medical exam he would be considered to be clinically obese. That puts him at higher risk of diabetes, of high blood pressure, and so if he were to catch COVID then he would be at risk of getting a very serious version of it and being admitted to intensive care.

So that was a real worry. Discussing it with colleagues we realized first of all that everybody’s asleep when Santa Claus calls, so he’s not going to come across anybody when he does travel all around the world from Lapland.

And secondly he travels so quickly that he’s even if a part of his entourage were to actually have the virus attached to them, they travel so quickly that there is no risk of transmitting the virus to anybody around the world so at least that’s some good news on the public health front.”

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Source: Good Morning Britain (Fair Use)