Playgrounds?

[nanbread]

Will you still be visiting playgrounds?

Legally they aren't closing.

They got insanely busy here when they reopened in the summer...

I'm using them when they are quiet. My toddler and I go in the middle of the day and frequently see nobody else. Go and collect the older dc from school and walk past the same park and it's heaving. I don't take them when it's like that. Even forgetting about covid, it's not that much fun when it's like that anyway tbh.

On my way as soon as I've finished lunch. With toddler I hasten to add. Not just for a go on the swings myself.

Playgrounds were originally closed because the virus can survive for up to three days on metal and plastic surfaces. It's less about socially distancing, and more about the play equipment not being disinfected often enough/at all.

It's less about socially distancing, and more about the play equipment not being disinfected often enough/at all.

As we learnt more about the disease, we it became clear that fomite transmission was much less of an issue than we first thought. In that the virus can live, but was too unstable to be transferred reliably from a surface to hand/face.

@Doodlepip23

Yes, will be taking my DD to playgrounds, but only at quiet times.

It is a shame to see outdoor gyms and basketball courts etc close again. I work for a council and we were really surprised by this. Most users of these areas are well social distanced anyway and we’ve felt mean cordoning them all off this week.

It is mean to close them off. (I'm not blaming you, it's a decision that should not have been made) Grassy fields are rapidly turning into slippery mud, and children should have weather safe surfaces to play on.

We can't use our garden in the winter because it turns into a grassless bog, better to avoid it so it recovers better in the spring and play elsewhere Nov- March. Many children don't have outdoor space.
Depriving them of weatherproof surfaces id not justified.

Is it any wonder playgrounds are busy when there is little else to do with small children?