AIBU to go for a run if I am self isolating?

[narisha99]

Am expecting to be shot down in flames here, but bear with me....

Self isolation advice is to stay at home for a week and not even go out for a walk. I totally get why public places should be avoided etc, but given the risk of airbourne transmission is being with 2-3ft of someone for 15 mins this wouldn't happen if I went for a run or a walk. It would be very easy for me to go for a walk in a rural area / woods etc where I would be unlikely to see many people, and I certainly wouldn't be getting close to them.

God forbid a dog should be distressed. Funnily enough, if you keep an animal they will poo or pee when they need to. Nothing wrong with puppy pads.

And I am an animal lover.

Are you fucking serious? You can't make a dog that's trained to toilet outside shit on the floor! That would be so distressing and confusing for the dog. I don't have a dog, before you wade in and tell me I'm a murderer of old people, but this is a bonkers suggestion and shows how far a lot of people on MN have gone up their own fundament.

Of course I'm serious. And I have a dog. Luckily we have a garden but if we didn't then that's what we'd have to do. I'd rather keep my dog in for a few days than inadvertently kill people.

Again, what would you do if the government put you on lockdown and made it illegal for you to go out? What if you'd be fined or put in government quarantine if you chose to ignore that?

What would happen to your dog then?

@IrisAtwood I know - that's what I was suggesting. It's @zafferana that's disagreeing! :)

Only people that have Corona virus, have just returned from certain countries or have been in contact with a confirmed case have been advised to self isolate for 2 weeks. People with cold and flu symptoms have been advised to self isolate for a week. Are you in that category? Because I doubt you'd be going for a run if you were!

You self isolating now will do nothing because it hasn't reached a peak yet. You'll just end up doing it all over again in a few weeks/months when it's actually recommended. People doing it now with no recommendation are just making life hard for others by stock piling and panic buying. Follow the advice of the scientists, you do not have to self isolate unless you are in the categories above

I thought they didn't know if dogs can pass it on yet. They know dogs can get it so does this mean an infected dog could give it to another dog?
I certainly think it's plain common sense if you're self isolating given the information out about animals potentially getting it it would be selfish to take them out for walks.

Yes I realised after I typed the bit about going out in the car that exactly the same would apply to going out for a run or a cycle ride, you could fall over/off your bike, get injured and need help.

If you are self-isolating to protect yourself, go out when you think you can avoid other people.

If you self-isolating to protect others, stay indoors or run laps around your garden.

Yes, thank you @YappityYapYap. There is so much OTT drama on MN. If you don't have symptoms then you don't have to go crazy hermetically sealing yourself off from the world. If you do have symptoms then yes, by all means stay at home for a week, don't run, get someone else to walk your dog.

I can honestly say in three years of walking the dog, I have never been asked the time or directions in the middle of a field.
I occasionally see the shepherd at a distance and wave from afar.
I walk on a deserted beach and very occasionally see another dog walker about half a mile away.
We are mindful because our neighbours are all very elderly. We will do all we can to protect them but that doesn’t mean locking ourselves in a bedroom that is about half a mile from the next house.
It entirely depends where you are and who you are likely to come across.
My muck boots are not a source of infection. The dog lead might be but only we use it. My car door handles might be but only we use it.
The greater risk is someone wondering into the house or knocking on the door for directions.

Sense is about understanding transmission and risk. Not mindlessly following poor advice.

In Italy they are threatening murder charges for people who fail to self isolate properly.

That has to be bs? To charge anyone with a crime there has to evidence, how could it be proven that one person leaving their home was responsible for another's death? Is it the same if someone infects a family member or someone asymptomatic who doesn't know they have it so doesn't send isolate?

OP said the self isolation is a precaution, not that she is ill so this outrage is ludicrous.

Those thinking they can just do what they like, that self-isolation doesn’t really mean them, or their pet, or their need for a run, the rules include you too. You are causing this. You are the reason the government has put in such limited measures - because people like you will not obey the guidance. Other countries are introducing fines and jail sentences to get people to comply. We are not China or North Korea, which had even more extreme measures. We rely on people trying to follow the rules. And yet still people think they don’t apply to them.

metro.co.uk/2020/03/12/people-coronavirus-italy-refuse-self-isolate-face-murder-charges-12385790/

@zafferana See what I mean about lacking common sense? Can people not work out that there are alternatives to keeping the dog in a garden.

Expecting others to set out every single possible alternative is just a way to disrupt the discussion.

If you broke both legs, lived in a high rise, no friends or family but you owned a dog I am pretty sure that you’d find a way.

Its clear to me why the Chinese had to have troops on the streets. The only way to deal with stupid is through tough control.

IF YOU ARE SELF ISOLATING THAT MEANS DO NOT GO OUT. YOUR DOG. YOUR PROBLEM. YOUR EXERCISE ADDICTION. YOUR PROBLEM.

WORK IT OUT.

What will you do if someone approaches you to ask the time, or directions or ask for help

You don't ask a runner to stop to give you directions! Anyway it's easy enough to stay two metres away from them. Surely they'd want to stay two metres away, too.

If you walk, then unless you live in an isolated area of the country I would be amazed that you can guarantee 100% not being within 2m of another person

I will shortly walk into my local town centre. Until I actually get to the shops I will not be within 2m of anyone (it would be different if it were school run time). How busy are the pavements around where you live? Sounds horribly congested.

But anyway, the government advice is clear, stay indoors if self-isolating with symptoms.

As to the dog issue. When you take on the responsibility to have a dog you must consider what would happen if you are incapacitated for any reason and can’t walk it or look after it. Apply that contingency. If you don’t have it, don’t have a dog.

People who are socially distancing can decide about their risk.

You don't ask a runner to stop to give you directions! Anyway it's easy enough to stay two metres away from them. Surely they'd want to stay two metres away, too.

The opening post says walk or run.

But there is no rule @daisypond saying that if you aren't showing any symptoms you can't go for a run or walk your dog! You're all up in arms, because you have misunderstood the advice. If you are simply staying at home because e.g. someone at your work has a fever/cough, you don't have to avoid going out unless you then show those symptoms too.

If you have been given advice to self isolate then you are wilfully exposing others and putting others at risk of infection and worse.

That is why the Italians, the Chinese and the Koreans are prosecuting and using fines and imprisonment to keep stupid inside.

YABVVU. I'm not sure how to put it more clearly than you are putting peoples lives at risk because you fancy a walk/run.

But there is no rule @daisypond saying that if you aren't showing any symptoms you can't go for a run or walk your dog!

Try reading the op, which is asking whether she is special enough to go for a walk or a run if there comes a time that they should be self isolating.

Go for that run!

If you cannot behave with basic human decency and follow clear instructions then you deserve to be welded into your house.

@cologne4711 It must be marvellous to have such magical abilities to predict exactly what will happen when you leave the house.

Truly astounding that you are 100% certain that no one will be within 2 metres of you.

Either that or you’re wearing a circular board around your waist with a diameter of 4.5m. Good luck getting into Aldi with that on.

Decided to self isolate from stupid and or selfish so I am done with this thread.

The problem is I have a cough, I self isolate for a week. Still have a cough, do I repeat ? I've had a cough for months, I always do I'm winter. Then my whole family have to stay home too and as DH run our own business then we can't earn. We sell a service rather than products.

I will be going out as usual. We will all be exposed at some point.

If you coughed on the bottom of your running shoe and spread it to outside your front door ? Then someone needs to pick it up quick on their shoe touch the sole and their month. Jeez don't lick Shoes is my advice. I'm surprised anyone's still alive.

Plus many of us have dogs and no gardens.

If you're self-isolating because you potentially have the virus - then yes, you shouldn't go out.

If you're self-isolating because you wish to avoid the virus and have no symptoms/need to isolate then of course you're fine to run - the risk is yours.

As PPs have said but will probably need to be said to you by 1000 people, you need to think about the risk to others. If the former scenario applies and you still selfishly decide to go out, then you mustn't touch anything - not a gate or a fence or lean on a railing to adjust your sock, because other people will be leaning on or touching those same places. In reality it is practically impossible to avoid touching anything. You will do it unconsciously and it will be too late.

And don't accidentally let a tissue fall out of your sleeve or pocket.

Also think about what would happen if you slipped or fell - who would come to pick you up? What if you needed an ambulance? You would be putting others at needless risk because you should not be there. Again you wouldn't mean it to happen and it could be sod's law the only time in your life that you have fallen, but if it happens it will be too late and you should have prevented it.

Just do the right thing and stay at home.

The problem is I have a cough, I self isolate for a week. Still have a cough, do I repeat ?

No, because at that point it's not a "new, continuous cough".

The advice is perfectly clear, I have no idea why you are trying to make out that it is confusing or absurd.

I am genuinely aghast at how selfish some people are. I thought in a global emergency people would pull together.