It’s a matter of good-better-best, I think. People want a definitive list of “this is safe” and “this is not safe” when it’s really all gradients of risk. I think these are all things that have been hinted at, but I’m not sure much of the general public is willing to adopt more stringent measures. Good info for high risk individuals though.
If you’re just running into the grocery store and not spending 15 min close to anyone, using 6’ and any face covering is probably very low risk.
And for “masks off” places with greater than 15 min exposure, like dine in restaurants, 6’ may not be sufficient. Even more so for high “expelling” environments like gyms or singing.
When you start talking about prolonged and continuous exposure, such as schools and workplaces, some of the research on which face coverings are better would then come into play. And more distance is better. Ventilation matters, but determining to what degree and how to readily evaluate that is challenging.
That article had a link to this article, which I thought was marginally interesting, although to me not for the reason the gym owners would intend. All of the issues with the study are spot on, and with so much unidentified community spread and asymptomatic cases, and few communities having resources to do contact tracing studies (just notifications), it just doesn’t prove anything. But it was interesting to see how many cases have actually been linked to gyms.
These were the more interesting bits to me:
Data on the spread of the coronavirus within gym environments is scarce. Few states have detailed contact-tracing data available to the public. As of early September, Colorado had tracked more than 600 outbreaks, none of which were traced to fitness clubs, which have been open there since June. In Louisiana, gyms have been linked to six outbreaks, totaling 34 cases, according to data from the state’s health department.
According to MXM’s methodology page, more than 2,800 gyms nationwide submitted self-reported data on the number of member visits and cases of the novel coronavirus linked to their facilities from May through early August. Only 1,155 positive cases were reported out of about 49 million visits, leading MXM and IHRSA to conclude that the infection rate in participating gyms was a “nominal” 0.002 percent.
^ If there are 1,155 known cases from gym visits, I suspect there are a whole lot more.
I’m super unmotivated to work out at home and would love to go back to my gym, but there’s just too much spread here right now. It’s just not that essential.
