Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Outdoor Masking

Since my gym closed again for the umpteenth time, I have taken to walking outside on a path at a neighborhood lake. (The fact the gyms are again closed just highlights the ludicrousness of the arbitrary decisions that “those who know best” are making as far as what is okay and what is not okay. The stats that are kept on “outbreaks” have repeatedly demonstrated that gyms are extremely low down on the outbreak risk totem pole.) But, oops, I got distracted! 

Back to my walking outside around the lake. Even though I listen to music, walking can be tedious . . . so I decided to pay attention to how many of those exercising (walkers, joggers, and bikers) were wearing masks. Better yet I decided to keep a count so that I could tell what percent of people exercising outside were wearing a face mask. For the first seven days 27.4% (153/580) of those exercising were wearing a mask. Then after a respite of a few days, I repeated my counting. On the second go-round, 26.3% (39/148) were wearing a face mask. Personally I was amazed at my stats . . . I couldn’t believe that a little more than 25% of outdoor exercisers found it necessary to wear a mask while exercising. I am never within six feet of anybody except for that fraction of a second when a biker whizzes by me. 

But then I read about what’s happening at some of our “Mecca’s of higher learning.” The University of California, Berkeley, this week banned outdoor exercise, masked or not, saying, “The risk is real.” The University of Massachusetts Amherst has banned outdoor walks. It encouraged students to get exercise by “accessing food and participating in twice-weekly Covid testing.”

Keep in mind that these nutcases are our potential future leaders!

What do the real experts say about masking and outdoor exercise?

From the New York Times article by David Leonhardt:

“Prohibiting outdoor activity is unlikely to reduce the spread of the virus, nor is urging people always to wear a mask outdoors.

Dr. Muge Cevik, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, told me. “The small number of cases where outdoor transmission might have occurred,” she wrote on Twitter, “were associated with close interactions, particularly extended duration, or settings where people mixed indoors alongside an outdoor setting.” The new variants of the virus are more contagious, but there is no evidence to suggest they will change this pattern.

“A student walking across campus — let alone a masked student — presents little risk to another student who remains at least six feet away. The same goes for joggers in your neighborhood.”

After reading what the experts say about Covid risk and outdoor exercise, perhaps next I am going to see if the majority of exercising mask-wearers are wearing Cal Berkeley or Amherst sweatshirts.

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