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.

Its not healthy to be indoors all day for weeks on end either, without excersise. Plus what are dog walkers supposed to do if we put a ban on setting foot outside?

Nothing we do is completely risk free. In the old days you could die in a car accident on the way to the shops. People having barbecues in the park is riskier than gardens because there isn't space in the park for every family to have their own barbecue, usually it's a few bigger groups sharing, and because in a public park some people wont keep strictly to the distancing rules. A few might ignore the rules altogether, or kids run off to other groups. It would only take one person who didn't know they were infected wandering around between groups to spread the illness about. A barbecue with everyone in their own garden is much safer.

I am assuming we are in it for the long haul and trying to take steps so that if I catch it then I catch it relatively lightly - so trying to keep healthy and exercised, and taking hygeine measures not just to avoid the virus altogether but also as to keep the viral load low even if I can't eliminate it altogether. And yes, I know none of this is guaranteed. But equally I could drop dead of a heart attack tomorrow anyway, people my age do.

There’s nothing on gov.uk at all that mentions a time limit?

It just seems a sensible amount. I walk in the park for about an hour a day. That's long enough to get some exercise, breathe some fresh air, and relax. I could stay out longer (and sometimes I'd love to!) but if everyone spent all day in the park then it would be a lot more crowded and less safe than it is.

Good luck OP, we're all scared.

This came from Michael Gove in a TV interview

That doesn't make it official guidance. He also said that children with separated parents couldn't move between households. Also not official guidance.

We’re having a bbq tomorrow. Just dh me and the two kids. No harm in that. If we didn’t go out in our garden we’d go nuts. Ds is 2.5 and having the garden to let him run in is a blessing. He’s usually so full of energy he’s bouncing off the walls if he’s kept inside.

I’ve just taken him down to the beach so I can run him. We ran to the sea and splashed. It was lovely. Lots of other people walking dogs or surfing. But everyone keeping their distance.

We had breakfast in the garden this morning. It’s sunny beautiful and 14 degrees. Perfect outside day.

If it was spreading in the wind and lingering on trees and bushes and moving from one BBQ to another etc etc the R0 would surely be much higher than 3?

The virus is low risk to most of us. I have had an annoying dry cough and a wheeze that I suspect was it especially as members of my household also got a fever and we are/ were at high risk of getting it quickly (London / train commuters etc) and I of course didn’t go out while this was ongoing as I don’t want to spread it. In case it wasn’t it, I’m keeping at home so I don’t get it and spread it soon. I adhere to the rules. What I would refuse to do however is give up the bits of a normal, happy family life by not even letting my kids spend time in the garden and catching some sun myself etc. If it’s just spreading in the wind I think there is probably no point in lockdown at all.

In case anyone now worries about that @Eckhart, moving children between their parents is allowed, this is one of the acceptable reasons to be out by law.

@Eckhart, nobody said it was official guidance, we simply pointed out where it had come from. Politicians are explaining the guidelines, which are incredibly woolly, just like Hancock clarifying that it’s fine to drive a short distance to walk the dog. I expect half of MN had a fit of the vapours when he said that.

Woolly, yes. Best to refer to the official guidelines, which are the least woolly source of... well, guidelines.

There seem to be a lot of fits of vapours these days.

I'm not sure whether locking myself in the wardrobe or hiding under the bed is best? And what about people passing my front door? Should I be spraying them with disinfectant as they pass? Or should I just report them?

Best to note down their names and addresses so you can invoice them for the cost of the disinfectant later, surely.

Are people aware that having a BBQ is something that can be done without inviting everyone you know? We used to do it for just my mum, my dad, and me all the time if the weather was nice. I'd imagine that most people will be doing just that, cooking and eating outside but within their own garden, among their own household, because it's one way of getting a bit of variety and fresh air without properly going out in public.

Yep. I don't think "pick 2 out of 10 friends and family to die" is particularly helpful on a thread where an OP is questioning the safety of her own garden.

Indeed. For those of us whose mental health is robust that behavior is merely irritating - for those who're struggling it's making an already challenging situation much harder to get through.

Stop trying to frighten people, it's irresponsible. There are better ways to communicate public health information.

I’m so pleased you’ve written this. My neighbour has their trampoline pushed up against our fence meaning when are kids are on it (all day long) jumping high above us we have to leave our small garden as we can’t respect the 2m rule. I’ve asked them to pull it forward as their garden is much bigger but been ignored. It’s really worrying me

I go out into my garden daily. Pegging washing out, mowing the lawn, weeding etc.
As do my neighbours.
Nothing wrong with it.
Then again, i go to work 6-7 nights per week, so I suppose in comparison, going out into my garden pales into insignificance somewhat.

Airborne spread has not been reported for COVID-19 and it is not believed to be a major driver of transmission based on available evidence. (www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf)

This^

Covid is spread by touching contaminated surfaces and coming into contact with droplets from coughs/sneezes. As long as nobody is coughing/sneezing over the fence and nobody else comes into your garden, you're fine.

We'll be having a BBQ. I have half a bag of charcoal in the shed from last year. I have sausages and burgers in the freezer. I picked up some bread rolls with my shop this week. We always have beer and wine in, so may have a couple of drinks. It will be my husband and I and our 2 children only. I imagine most BBQs this weekend will be similar rather than lavish feasts involving all the friends and neighbours. We'd be doing it if Coronavirus wasn't happening, we BBQ often in good weather, so it'll be nice to have a bit of normality.

Generally feel that those who stay indoors with the heating on, rarely spending most of the day outside are the ones that are often ill anyway.
I wonder if protecting ourselves from corona risk is just changing the illness that you're going to have.
I do think if your houses are very close together and you can cough or sneeze near your neighbours then you will catch what ever they have, even corona.

I agree @Savingsh0es. As I said earlier my garden is only about 2m wide. DH and I were in the garden just now when we realised our neighbour was in his garden less than 2m away. There was a 6ft fence between us so I presume that gave us some protection but we have a neighbour upstairs, next door and upstairs next door all close by. What can you do?

The only issue arising from three hours of gardening is that I can feel the muscles down the backs of my thighs and shoulders tingling.

Neighbour had the car valeting service in to clean their cars but I guess they were 2m apart at all times.

Had a lovely time at Sainsburys- made a real change. Got to go to Pets4 Homes tomorrow to collect the cat's arthritis meds, flea drops and Hills nuts for old fat cats - probs also a month's supply of his favourite foods. Can't believe how excited I am about another outing :)

More gardening tomorrow - will weed the hydrangea beds, replant them with geraniums, weed at the bottom under the pergola and feed the rhododendrons - split some ancient crocosmia and dig up as many fucking bluebells as my arms can bear - having cut the stems for indoors. Believe me, it will not stop them - bluebell bulbs go deeper than corona virus.

I'm making good use of the garden and my runs out.

In late February, I was fit enough to run a half marathon. If I don't go outside, and if I don't go running (in genuinely quiet rural areas) I can guarentee that I will be in poorer health by the end of quarantine than I was at the start. It would make me vitamin D deficient- not good for someone at high genetic risk of arthritis. I have a choice of either hacking back my food intake to a depressing sedentary sustainence level of 1300 calories per day, or gradually gain weight and end up overweight which will put more strain on sensitive joints and lump it for life or have to diet at some point. My lung capacity will decline, and frankly if I'm going to catch a potentially nasty respiritory illness, I'd rather keep my lung capacity at its best. Given that I have to go out weekly to a supermarket to keep my family healthy and fed, I'll accept the very low risk of catching the illness blowing around past the fences or quickly passing others by with as much width as is practical.

In my particular circumstances, ignoring fag packet numbers like one hour of exercise so I can do a longer run in an area with a very low chance of passing anyone else compared with running shorter routes in suburbia, I'm minimising my chances of risking NHS staff working with the more seriously ill.

With my 7 yo having a fellow football mad classmate next door, there is no point in attempting to give myself a nervous breakdown over balls flying over the fence on either side. The fence prevents the children making direct physical contact, or sneezing/ coughing over eachother and as long as they wash well after handling the balls, the statistical benefits are more favourable to maintaining physical and social play than the risk of two otherwise healthy, hardy children spreading the virus. I would naturally discourage licking the ball, but they're past that age

Fresh air and physical activity are very important to physical and mental health and Covid 19 is not the only health hazard in the world.

I have a very low maintenance garden and DH everything that needed doing during the week as he’s not working and was bored. I sat in the garden for a couple of hours and now have a very red face!

We are using our garden for hours a day because we need the fresh air and space. We do respect that we have neighbours on one side and tend to stay away from the fence area, especially if they are out there too. But we do that ‘normally’ anyway because of privacy rather than infection.

I'm using my garden a little because I can't go for a walk or shop etc
But it's v small and on the pavement so I have to keep an eye out for people walking past!

In your garden, no visitors fine. Exercising NO.

@hamstersarse

“I too am worried about the MH of people. There is some bat shit crazy stuff on this thread 😂”

This - absolutely this. Am genuinely agog at some of the thought processes on here.

At several points over the past couple of weeks I have needed to step away from the internet or I would eye roll myself to an early grave. This is another of them.

I have asthma, suspected lupus and a whole other host of health issues which would make me a bigger than normal risk but at no point have I ever been worried to step out into my garden. I get that those people who already suffer from anxiety, particularly health related anxiety must be really struggling at this point, but we do need to have a collective head wobble to try and help everyone to use their critical thinking skills.

Thirded re worrying about people's MH. Honestly, a lot of people need to turn off the news, get off the internet for a bit and get some fresh air.

I have had the virus. Only one other person in my team of 18 at work has become ill. It’s nearly three weeks since I was in the office. Sitting in your garden has a very limited risk.