{"id":9661,"date":"2020-05-17T11:09:57","date_gmt":"2020-05-17T15:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/?p=9661"},"modified":"2025-01-11T11:59:15","modified_gmt":"2025-01-11T16:59:15","slug":"does-strictly-limiting-outdoor-activities-help-prevent-the-spread-of-covid-19-a-call-for-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/hiv-id-observations\/index.php\/does-strictly-limiting-outdoor-activities-help-prevent-the-spread-of-covid-19-a-call-for-reason\/2020\/05\/17\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Strictly Limiting Outdoor Activities Help Prevent the Spread of COVID-19? A Call for Reason"},"content":{"rendered":"

I really<\/em> miss playing tennis.<\/p>\n

Tossing that out there to confess up front why the following might not be the world’s most objective perspective.<\/p>\n

But take a look at this<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jeepers, much of that advice strikes me as silly. Or, as put bluntly by one respondent here:<\/a><\/p>\n

So, if I understand well, I can sleep with my wife but playing tennis with her just crosses the line, right? S**t, this is a tricky virus!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ok, back to me and tennis. Some years ago, my wife gave me a nice tennis racquet for a certain milestone birthday.<\/p>\n

She had just watch me play in a casual pick-up tournament for novice players at a local park, and noticed I couldn’t shut up about how fun it was for weeks.<\/p>\n

It was easily one of the best birthday presents in the history of the planet. I’ve been playing tennis 2-3 times a week ever since. While walking, biking, or driving to the courts, I get this delightful giddy feeling of excitement each time.<\/p>\n

Plus — and other devoted amateur athletes and hobbyists will certainly recognize this feeling — playing tennis is one of the few activities during which my mind goes blank on work issues. Patient care worries, manuscript deadlines, demands for learning objectives, human resources struggles, required online learning modules, email overload — all gone.<\/p>\n

Boy, I miss that.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Really?<\/p><\/div>\n

So I acknowledge some bias here on the question of whether strictly limiting outdoor activities actually limits the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

And — must be said — missing tennis is trivial compared to the hardships, health issues, and losses wreaked by this awful virus.<\/p>\n

But follow me on the tennis thing anyway, because I do think that some of our most important public health messages get diluted by nonsensical and absolutist guidelines not rooted in science.<\/p>\n

Where do we see most of the spread of COVID-19?<\/p>\n

Households, especially those that can’t isolate symptomatic individuals due to lack of space. Crowded settings with poor ventilation. Nursing homes. Shelters. Ships. Call centers. Restaurants and bars. Parties. Family gatherings. Public transportation. Meat packing plants.<\/p>\n

What do all of these settings have in common? They’re indoors. Or they’re crowded. Or even worse — both.<\/p>\n

That’s because the likelihood of getting infected directly correlates with the amount of virus in the air we’re breathing, and the time we spend breathing it. Read this magnificent and widely circulated post<\/a> by Dr. Erin Bromage, if you want more details.<\/p>\n

Or this wonderful summary of carefully done transmission studies by Dr. Muge Cevik:<\/p>\n

\n

A lot of discussion recently about transmission dynamics, most of which are extrapolated from viral loads & estimates. What does contact tracing\/community testing data tell us about actual probability of #COVID19<\/a> transmission(infection rate), high risk environments\/age?
[thread]<\/p>\n

— Muge Cevik (@mugecevik) May 4, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n