I just saw a group of high school boys doing a long run together. Acceptable or Stupidity?

jimmy jack wrote:

My high school aged son is still getting daily workouts from his coach (with weekend time trials for virtual relays "races"). Although he was told to run alone, we've allowed our son to meet a few of his teammates at the school and do their runs/workouts together.

Someones it's just 2 people (total) and at the most it's been 5. It's a risk, but very minimal and no different than going to the grocery store, or getting takeout. He told me none of his teammates have gone anywhere except to the school for their group run.

My son does not leave his room except for running and food, so I balance the minimal risk with the improvement to wellness/balance/mental health.

So you think being within a couple feet of someone, breathing heavily, and doing it for an hour is the same as the brief contact you have with a delivery person or at the grocery story?

Brief contact with an infected person would certainly be way worse than an hour with an uninfected person or group of uninfected people.

Could you answer my question about wearing masks and safety glasses?

Help me to understand wrote:

Great! You believe that they can catch it by the breath of another, correct? So how is that different from when one of those boys goes to Walmart and buys some groceries for their family?

If your theory is correct, which it certainly may be - but if it is, shouldn't EVERYONE be wearing masks and protective eye wear?

When you go to walmart are you standing with in a couple of feet of someone and breathing hard for an hour? And you don't see the difference between an essential activity(i.e. getting food) and an nonessential one (i.e. running with friends when you could simply run alone?)

And what do you think is the difference between a cough and breathing? Just the volume and size of the droplets and how far (coughs travel up to 20' or so). The cough though tends to tell everyone that you are sick. And yes we should all be wearing masks.

It is important to remember all this stuff is probability based. If you are running 6' behind someone(or passing), you are still breathing in a bunch of the droplets that they have expelled. Just a heck of a lot less than if you are within 2' of them. While there is some evidence that 1 virsus is enough to get infected, there is also a lot that total exposure matters a ton. So passing someone for 3s isn't the same as standing next to them for an hour.

nbni alum wrote:

Read the science, nitwit. They're now predicting that cases of Coronavirus in some states could spike in June because people aren't taking social distancing seriously. Big packs of runners deserve the scorn they get. Unless you're living in the same house, you shouldn't be running together. And even then, you need to consider other people. A throng of mask-less runners pushing people off trails or into the street in these times is rude and reckless.

Agree with not running together in throngs but everything else you say doesn't seem to be accurate.

IHME model updated last night. The Peak stayed exactly the same nationwide. Some states like Florida had their peak shift forward 2 weeks from May to mid April.

This is an awful precedent. We now are living in a world where kids are being shamed for running with each other? Is this a joke? Screw your stupid Coronavirus dramatic attitude. This has gone too far. This is not nazi Germany, people shouldn’t be shamed for seeing each other. This has absolutely gone too far.

Liberals and Nazis have always been synonymous in my mind. Communism and forcing people to adhere and believe what they are told pretty much describes the modern Democrat party. Sure men are women. Sure abortion is acceptable. Don't you dare shame people for doing drugs or drinking or eating bad or being overweight or not exercising. Funny that those are the same people that the crazies continue to protect at the expense of the working class and our children. You can't exercise together? We may as well all be dead if we can't live.

Help me to understand wrote:

So how is that different from when one of those boys goes to Walmart and buys some groceries for their family?

One is essential and one is not. It's pretty damn simple. If you don't understand this, you're either being intentionally obtuse or you aren't very intelligent.

At this point, you should only be seeing people who live in your household, and those you NEED to see for survival (grocery store, etc.).

No one is saying they can't run. You just have to do it alone.

People embracing social distancing are part of the problem. It’s like they don’t want life to go back to normal. I cannot believe that I am reading about runners being shamed for running together on a running website! Like what gives guys, it’s almost like you don’t want the world to go back to normal???

dadsfadsfdasfdsafdas wrote:

So you think being within a couple feet of someone, breathing heavily, and doing it for an hour is the same as the brief contact you have with a delivery person or at the grocery story?

At the grocery store, I am briefly interacting with dozens of people of unknown risk levels. Yes, I think this is more risky than interacting for an hour with a small group of people who have only spent time with each other and their asymptomatic immediate families.

macdaddy wrote:

Help me to understand wrote:

So how is that different from when one of those boys goes to Walmart and buys some groceries for their family?

One is essential and one is not. It's pretty damn simple. If you don't understand this, you're either being intentionally obtuse or you aren't very intelligent.

At this point, you should only be seeing people who live in your household, and those you NEED to see for survival (grocery store, etc.).

No one is saying they can't run. You just have to do it alone.

It is not essential to go to the grocery store. If you really cared about social distancing, you would be having your groceries delivered to avoid interaction with other shoppers. Why don't you care about flattening the curve?

Everyday my family goes out for walks. Invariably we approach people walking in the other direction toward us. It is so sad to watch some of these people cower and wait for us to pass, or walk into the street to stay away from others even with masks on. God forbid they violate the 6 foot rule.

I would hate to be the runner in the back of the group as he might be vulnerable to catching the virus. Maybe a group of 5,6, or 7 isn't wise. But I don't think a group of 2 running abreast but a few feet apart is dangerous at all. If the parents understand the risk and support their kids running this way let them.

We are a damn sick society.

I think the key here is we don't seem to know if aerosol-ed breath is actually a possible way to catch THIS virus. IF WE KNEW THAT TRULY WAS THE CASE, wouldn't everyone be required to wear full gas masks when venturing outside?

Not hard for me

They’re quarantining together. They’ve already been breathing on each other, no point stopping now.

coach wrote:

Everyday my family goes out for walks. Invariably we approach people walking in the other direction toward us. It is so sad to watch some of these people cower and wait for us to pass, or walk into the street to stay away from others even with masks on. God forbid they violate the 6 foot rule.

I would hate to be the runner in the back of the group as he might be vulnerable to catching the virus. Maybe a group of 5,6, or 7 isn't wise. But I don't think a group of 2 running abreast but a few feet apart is dangerous at all. If the parents understand the risk and support their kids running this way let them.

We are a damn sick society.

I fall into this camp. I socially distance myself in every phase of my life except one run per week with no more than 2 other individuals whom I trust are not sick themselves because they are careful and well educated individuals.

With a 99.9% survival rate, excluding the risk group, let the boys run. In fact, open the schools and let America get back to work. This civilian martial law is ridiculous. Encourage the risk group to self quarantine and give those people exclusive morning shopping hours.

And shame of those San Diego County Sheriff deputies giving out over 20 fines to people parked at the beach watching the sunset.

It is great that it is not hard for you to be alone. If everyone who does want to get infected stays home alone, we are all happy. Let the rest of us go out for group runs and go to work and go to school. Perfect solution.

This is the attitude I wish everyone had! People need to wake up. Thank you for posting this, I completely agree!