Is it really safe for everybody to be out in the garden/exercising daily?

[Hoohum]

I have seen a lot of posts about how people are going to be having BBQS this weekend due to nice weather. My question is, is it really completely safe to do so?

I’m more referring to houses that are situated close together but I don’t really see how high numbers of people out in their gardens eating food is much different to high numbers of people having a picnic in a field (with a 2 metre distance)?

I am aware the virus is not airborne at certain proximities But people are still catching virus even with lockdown.

I also wonder about the daily one hour exercise allowance. My step son has been going out for daily walks and playing in the garden but other than that has been completely isolated from people and has been at home with his mum. However, he has now developed a cold and a cough. Even if this is not the Coronavirus he has obviously picked germs up from somewhere?

Do you think it is completely safe to be leaving the house? I have probably become quite irrational and we do not leave the house at all other than the twice we have needed to shop in 3 weeks.

I sort of think that the daily allowance of exercise has been put in place to throw people a bone and help with overall isolation adherence, rather than it being completely risk free.

I agree with @Bellesavage at this time of year, Stepsons cold and cough could be hayfever. Pollen levels forecast to be moderate to high this weekend.

Can I remind everyone that the lockdown measures are to slow the spread of the disease, so that the NHS is able to cope with the number of patients needing medical assistance at anyone time. We are not in lockdown because the disease has a high mortality rate. It doesn't. In the vast majority of cases people will have only mild symptoms or have no symptoms at all (the latter estimated to be about 1 in 4).

Some people are losing sight of the objectives of lockdown. This is about managing the disease at a population level (and of course I accept if you are in a highly vulnerable group the situation is slightly different).

Every day we expose ourselves to risk, that is just the nature of being alive. If you want to minimise the risk of you dying today then the best thing you can do is stay in bed, pull the covers over your head and stay there for the rest of the day.

If you want to minimise the risk of dying over the long term you need to accept some risks which are very small (of being knocked over by a bus out walking, for instance) and adopt behaviours which benefit your mental and physical wellbeing such as getting outside for some fresh air and taking some exercise.

Completely agree with @daisydoesnt this is all about controlling the spread so it's more manageable, not stopping the spread. Unless you stay inside for 2 years then the likelihood is you'll get it. In fact we all need to get it to protect the more vulnerable, just not all get it at the same time!

People who agree with the OP, have you had a thought for the hundreds of thousands of people who are still going to work every single day? All those key workers doing their but since others can sit at home!

I understand how this can feel as both dh and I are keyworkers, but it actually works the other way round, people are sitting home so keyworkers can keep working. On a population level reducing the number of cases by removing a lot of non essential people going out and infecting others means we as a nation can keep our cases of the disease as low as possible while still allowing essential workers to go out. So those sitting at home are also doing their bit for the nation.

Every day we expose ourselves to risk, that is just the nature of being alive. If you want to minimise the risk of you dying today then the best thing you can do is stay in bed, pull the covers over your head and stay there for the rest of the day

And even that is exposing yourself to risks over the long term if you keep doing it!

@OhTheRoses
Bloody hell you’ve ruined my morning by drawing attention to my cognitive dissidence.
I fully expect to be in the group that gets Clovid 19 and make a full recovery with only light or no symptoms and I also fully expect to win the lottery. I just bought tickets.
Now you’re saying I’m more likely to die. Bummer.

Mobster please calm yourself down and reread the thread. Not one single person has suggested ‘going’ anywhere for a BBQ. They are talking about sitting in their own garden, with their own household.
There is a risk to everything. If my 5 person family including three active children under 6 didn’t go outside into our garden, there is a very real risk we would all lose the plot.

I did wonder about this as well - I live in a terraced house, not hugely wide as it happens and our gardens are kind of L-shaped. Mine and next door's gardens both have the patio area by the fence between us, so actually we could easily be less than 2 metres away from each other if we were both sitting in our gardens.

Saying that, I think you need to draw the line somewhere and take small risks - as far as I'm concerned, if I want to avoid catching the virus I will have to live like this until I can get vaccinated... I can't not use my garden in all that time.

The biggest risk with BBQ weather is the people doing extra food shops. It's bad enough in BBQ weather without COVID 19.
This will put extra strain on the supermarkets, longer queues, more time spent outside near others and meat, bread and fresh salad supplies will be bought up.

For most people the goal is not to ever catch it, but to flatten the curve. We will get it, and by staying in we won't all get it at once. Some risk is acceptable, and if on the very small chance some people get it in their garden, or from their groceries, it will be alright for most people.

Those in very high risk groups know who they are, and they take more than normal precautions.

Exercise boosts the immune system. Exercise can help save your life.

I too am wondering where people are getting this 'one hour's exercise' allowance from.

I've not been reading the news as I've been ill with suspected CV myself but I was wondering, why are the numbers of cases and deaths in Italy so high still, if it the risk of catching it just shopping is so low?
Where are all these people catching it from?
Are we still seeing a lag of cases from before the lockdown?

I too am wondering where people are getting this 'one hour's exercise' allowance from. hmm

This came from Michael Gove in a TV interview.

I too am wondering where people are getting this 'one hour's exercise' allowance from

If you’d bothered to RTFT, you’d know. Michael Gove said it earlier this week in a press briefing.

This is the first time ever people on Mumsnet have quoted Gove in support of their posts. What a topsy turvy world we are in

It doesn't matter how long , I've gone out for 30 minutes approx , 1 hour or so run. the other day I was about 1 hr 30 minutes because I called at the shop on my way back from a run .
People have to take things literally the hour was mentioned so that you don't spend all day in the park for example.

Gove just plucked that number out of thin air. Most VIP thing is to keep distance from others.

It would be good to know more about transmission as the shielding group might be able to get out a bit.
My poor son is stuck in a studio flat with no garden and I fear that his lack of exercise and natural light for weeks on end, will be very detrimental. I'm sure many others are the same.

You know if I was a conspiracy theorist, and I am not, I would see this COVID-19 reaction as the coming of all their Christmases for those in the state and academia who have always hated the self-employed, entrepreneurs, property owners and small businessmen, the sort of people who don't like being told what to do by the state and who, apparently are to blame for all the problems of the world from homelessness to climate change. Suddenly they are ruined and will now have listen to and kiss the backsides of state officials or starve.

The underclass, they are fine, they always have been. They live on the dole and public handouts so nothing will change for them.

The workers in factories or shops will simply change over from working for the private sector to whatever department of the government has taken over their former owner's business.

Public sector workers will also be fine, they will in fact be the new heroes and their managers will become intoxicated with new-found power.

The billionaires, well needless to say they will be hunky dory, they might see their personal fortunes decline by a few percentage points for a year or so, but that will be small change to them.

The celebrity class, the elite sportsmen and Hollywood stars will also be fine, they will continue to spout the government's message and will be well rewarded for doing so.

So who will be wiped out? The small shop owner, the contractor, the self-employed businessman, the landlord, the independent trader, the small factory owner, the sort of people who learned to grow up and wipe their own backsides. The people who made their own decisions about life, who preferred to look after their own affairs, their own family's health care and education, their own pensions and who often voted in ways their 'betters' preferred they didn't.

Bang! They are destroyed through no fault of their own but because of the incompetence of governments all around the world. They must pay the penalty of this crisis, they must accept that the way of life they once knew is now over, they must now be supplicants of the state and abide by the state's directions or find they have no roof over their heads.

Like I say, I am not a conspiracy theorist...

Gove just plucked that number out of thin air

They seem to be plucking just about everything out of thin air.

@jeffuk2015, you haven’t taken your medication today, have you?

@jeffuk2015 Actually loads of people probably made money short-selling stocks before they fell, and also billionaires like Bill Gates will make loads of money from the vaccine. Some will get very rich from this. And anyone with a tech/social media company.

Cheddar :o Topsy turbulent world indeed!

It’s really important to go outside if you can. I see it as far safer than handling shopping as it lives on surfaces too I thought. You can go out for a walk without anything but your feet touching anything between closing and opening your own front door. Whereas even getting groceries delivered involves lots more handling of stuff.

In England isn’t there a lot of vitamin D deficiency at the best of times? We need all the sunlight we can get, exercise and fresh air are essential to health too.

I’m trying to compromise by also getting everyone on the exercise bike indoors too (or maybe we will put it in the garden when it’s warmer) - unfortunately walking with the toddler isn’t exactly quick enough to get our heart rates up.

Topsy turbulent?! FFS I’d already changed it from turbo. Turvy, obviously.