Did anyone here get covid outside?

[MerinoFroggie]

Just after hearing of a case where a girl met with her friend to go for a walk and the friend was in the incubation phase of the virus. The friend didn't know she had covid at the time of going for a walk. A few days the girl developed some symptoms and got tested.

I'm curious in learning more. I'm astonished that an infection occurred outside. I don't know any details if they met in a car to go for a drive and a walk or if they stopped for a takeaway or if the stopped at each others houses or if they shared anything together. I don't know any other details.

I'm going to be more cautious going forward for sure. I was meeting up with my partner every week and going for a walk. Now I'm not too sure about doing that. The walking path I take can get very busy and sometimes I like the walk, other times it's just too busy like people stopping for a chat and standing meters apart across from each other and you have no choice but to dive into their stream of breath and start a sprint to maintain the social distancing.

Eh?

A random anecdote about which you don't know any details

That's why I'm asking here to see if others tested positive and perhaps traced it back to walking or sports outdoors or even queuing outside shops or from outdoor dining.

If they were not walking some distance apart and it wasn’t a windy day, then the positive person could have coughed and the particles could have been in the air, like the advert they keep showing on tv about wearing masks, then yes, your friend could have caught it that way.

I'm astonished that an infection occurred outside

Being outside doesn't make you immune! It just means that you are less likely to catch it because of increased air flow etc.

You don’t even have to cough.
Imagine it’s a frosty day and you can see your breath - that’s how it happens.
This is why I hold my breath as I’m passing someone if there’s not going to be 2 metres between us. I don’t breathe until I’m well past them.

Think of cigarette smoke. What you smell when someone smokes has been in their lungs. For sure if you are in a a closed room you are going to get swamped with particles, but even when you are outside with a smoker you will probably smell whiffs of the stuff. That’s how covid works.

while we have no working track and trace system its almost impossible to know where transmission has occurred.

id say this new variant which is highly transmissible looks to be more likely to be passed outdoors too.

I don’t understand how anyone can work out how they caught it really!

People who go walking with someone else generally

• walk fairly close so as to be able to hear each other talk
• naturally turn and look at them from time to time i.e breathe directly at them

Spending (say) an hour in close proximity with someone and not making any real attempts to prevent yourself getting infected because you are in the "magic" outdoors is still a Covid risk. It's just less of a risk then doing the same thing indoors. If you are consistently staying 2m apart and never looking at each other it is less of a risk. I've personally never seen anyone that does that, because people who meet to walk together generally also meet to chat.

The people I know who caught it were indoors. Pub, home, work. I don't know anyone who caught it outdoors. The benefits of going out for a walk and exercise far outweigh any potential (extremely low) risk of catching it in passing from a stranger.

Outside is low risk but not no risk. There will be cases where people have contracted the virus in the circumstances you describe.

I thought I was the only person who holds my breath when I walk past people. It's habit now.

I close my mouth and hold my breath too. When I am walking on a footpath and there's people ahead, sometimes I cross the road if it allows to maintain social distancing. If I can't cross the road, I step of the path and start running til I am some space/metres past them.

Another breath holder. Especially if I've had a runner go past me, I'll then try and hold it for a while until I've cleared a good few steps of they were recently running.

I understand the breath holding thing but as you can also get covid via eyes and nose, I would think that if you’re going to catch it from walking thru someone’s breath, you’ll get it whether you hold your breath or not.

@Adirondack

I understand the breath holding thing but as you can also get covid via eyes and nose, I would think that if you’re going to catch it from walking thru someone’s breath, you’ll get it whether you hold your breath or not.

Holding your breath is reducing the amount of exposure. Less air is going in.

@Adirondack

I understand the breath holding thing but as you can also get covid via eyes and nose, I would think that if you’re going to catch it from walking thru someone’s breath, you’ll get it whether you hold your breath or not.

The problem is that I’ve been in situations where it’s impossible to get out of their way, and they make no effort to move over, so holding my breath is my only defence. Yesterday I was walking through a very wet, muddy park on the path. Two people were coming towards me and I pulled over as far as I could, I expected them to go into single file. No. They just carried on walking and talking. It’s so selfish and ignorant.

One option would be if you and the person you met both wore masks? Reduces the risk of transmission further.

@DinosaurDiana

You don’t even have to cough. Imagine it’s a frosty day and you can see your breath - that’s how it happens. This is why I hold my breath as I’m passing someone if there’s not going to be 2 metres between us. I don’t breathe until I’m well past them.

Right. Or picture a smoker exhaling. Walking side by side it would be easy to inhale another's smoke / virus.

A year in, and people STILL need this pointed out to them?? Mind-boggling.

Me and my Dsis met for a walk recently. We knew we most likely wouldnt stay 2m apart so we both wore masks.
Although I've been running with a friend and we dont wear masks. If we're running in quiet lanes we are often 2m apart.

I'm sure I read that the New variant is supposed to be more transmissible outdoors.

I was dog walking on a field the other day and saw someone (with their dog) smoking - you could really see how far clouds of droplets might travel on a still day.

Well it’s generally more transmissible, so yes.

Bear in mind there is a certain amount you need of any virus though.

To put your mind at rest, I have a horse I have to look after twice a day, there are another 10 people who also visit their horses at the yard every day, we are not all there at the same time, maybe 3 to 7 at the most, none of us have ever caught Covid from each other, one girl caught it from a family member, she obviously self isolated as soon as she knew, none of us caught it. Our routine has gone on through the whole of the pandemic, plus we have farriers, vets who have to visit.

This is why it's more likely in general to catch covid from someone you know - if you're walking with a friend, you're naturally going to be much closer to them and not stay 2 metres apart all the time if you're chatting and walking for a longer period of time. (Compared to the miniscule risk from a random stranger walking or jogging past in a matter of seconds.)