The question of whether or not we should go out or stay in is one we continue to ask ourselves despite the lockdown rules being clarified. Yes, we can go for a picnic with a friend in the park while social distancing…but should we? As in, what does the science actually say about how safe it is? And more than that, how can we make going outside as safe as possible?
We spoke to expert Dr Luke Kane to answer all these Covid-questions, from whether we should be worried about people running past us in parks to why we should avoid sharing food at picnics…
How high is the risk of catching coronavirus outdoors?
‘More information is coming out all the time but current studies suggest that outside is a lower risk,’ says Dr Kane. ‘It’s not impossible to catch Covid outside but it’s much lower risk than if you were indoors. It depends on how close you are to people, hence all the social distancing guidelines. So, If you’re outside and two meters apart from someone, I would say that is very low risk.’
Experts agree on this, with a study in China finding that only one of 7,300 cases was connected to outdoor transmission. That case specifically involved a 27-year old man who had a conversation outside with a man who had just returned from Wuhan and seven days later had symptoms of Covid-19.
What would increase or decrease the risk of catching coronavirus outside?
‘It’s much higher risk if you’re unable to socially distance from people,’ says Dr Kane. ‘So if you’re in a crowded place, if you’re going somewhere and touching loads of stuff like door handles, lifts, park benches, picnic tables, outdoor gym gear, you’re increasing you’re risk because other people might have touched that too. They might have coughed or sneezed in their hand, touched a door handle and then you might touch that and rub your eyes – say because it’s hay fever season – and that’s much higher risk.'
‘In this new phase of the pandemic, it’s all about seeing it through risk,’ Dr Kane continues. ‘If you go to your local park when it’s not very busy, have a stroll with a mask on, come home, wash your hands and you’ve stayed two metres from everyone else, that’s low risk. But, if you start pushing it really far so you want to go to Brighton beach and want to get the train down, or drive and need to refuel your car having to touch stuff in the station, or you may meet friends and haven’t seen them in ages so give them a hug… it all adds layers of risk.’
What is the risk of going for a picnic with friends outdoors?
‘There is more of a risk meeting someone for a picnic than having one alone, obviously, but the evidence suggest that if it’s just two of you outdoors and you’re more than two metres apart, it’s very low risk,’ says Dr Kane. ‘But say if you’re sharing food, that would be bad. You couldn’t share a dip for example – because that’s not keeping two meres apart. You would have to spoon the hummus into two bowls and each have your own to reduce the risk.
‘But even if you hand something to someone while social distancing - so place it down somewhere and then stand two meters away while they collect it - touching something someone else has touched is still a risk because they could have coughed in their hand before touching it and it could be covered in coronavirus,’ he says.
Should we be worried about people running or cycling past us in the street?
‘I’ve certainly felt more worried when someone jogs by me dripping in sweat and panting everywhere than if someone walks by calmly,’ states Dr Kane. ‘But the evidence so far is that there is not a lot of transmission outside because of wind [scattering the virus] and UV rays [drying the virus out], but it’s higher risk than being inside. It’s just about maintaining as much distance as you can, so two metres. But say if I was jogging two metres behind someone with coronavirus for 45 minutes, that’s still much higher risk than if someone just jogged by me once in the street for two seconds [because you’re potentially exposed to the virus for longer].’
How safe would it be to go to a beer garden or outdoor restaurant?
‘It’s so tempting but I don’t think we’re there yet with the amount of cases still going on,’ Dr Kane explains. ‘You have to think about how that would work, you’re going to be touching the door handles, toilets, paying on a card machine, they’re going to be pouring pints or serving food – all of that is going to be really difficult to maintain social distancing, unless it’s basically empty.’
How safe is it to be swimming right now: could you catch the virus in a public pool?
‘As long as you keep to social distancing – two metres apart – then a public pool is sterilised so the chlorine would kill the virus,’ concludes Dr Kane. ‘But you’re still going to a public place where you’re going to be exposed to more people, more surfaces you need to touch, for example in the changing rooms, so it’s going to be difficult to open public pools for a while.’
According to The New York Times, experts agree that the risk of catching Covid-19 in swimming pools, lakes or the ocean is not from the water itself, but from exposure to people in and near the water.
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