{"id":370,"date":"2020-07-10T03:59:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-10T03:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/?p=370"},"modified":"2020-11-09T04:01:07","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T04:01:07","slug":"what-do-we-know-about-transmission-risk-in-outdoor-settings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/?p=370","title":{"rendered":"What do we know about transmission risk in outdoor settings?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"d194\"><strong>Question:<\/strong>&nbsp;What do we know about transmission risk in outdoor settings? We\u2019ve been doing a lot more of seeing our friends in socially distanced, outdoor spaces because we know it\u2019s safer than indoors. Even so, how much are we chancing it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"29af\"><strong>Answer:<\/strong>&nbsp;The more we know, the more we can be confident that: a) outdoor settings are much, much safer than indoor settings; and b) outdoor settings do not erase risk. Even when socializing outdoors, we need to take precautions, including by keeping our distance (6+ feet). The good news is that \u2014 to my knowledge \u2014 we do not have any evidence of transmission in the context of outdoors + socially distant. If you\u2019re abiding by these parameters (and staying home if unwell, washing hands too), I think your risk is very low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"2866\">We talked about indoor\/outdoor risk in our&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@madeleinefabic\/covid-19-questions-and-answers-ee65d2f749e7\">Q&amp;A of 5\/20 and 5\/12<\/a>. Over the last two months, we don\u2019t (to my knowledge) have much rigorous science on outdoor transmission risks a la the study out of China that we discussed in our Q&amp;A of 5\/12. What we have now is a lot of news reports indicating where clusters of infections originated. We also have this&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/16wtnHe4hM6I7TFHXVpLXY8R4GAUzAJ-7NWbKIVvsVuA\/edit#gid=1131322210\">database<\/a>&nbsp;of literature and media reports, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/16wtnHe4hM6I7TFHXVpLXY8R4GAUzAJ-7NWbKIVvsVuA\/edit#gid=412080239\">COVID-19 Settings of Transmission<\/a>\u201d, compiled by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and further described in their article, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/wellcomeopenresearch.org\/articles\/5-83\">What settings have been linked to SARS-CoV-2 transmission clusters?<\/a>\u201d I just became aware of this open access database last night and I admit, I am really excited to access it (nerd!)! Mind you, a database like this has a lot of limitations; but in the context of limited and emerging data, it\u2019s a helpful resource. So here\u2019s our outdoor transmission risk update:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Of the total 266 cluster events compiled as of 6\/7, only 7 were fully outdoors \u2014 4 cluster events at building sites in Singapore, 1 at a seafood market in China (discussed in Q&amp;A of 5\/12), 1 at a playground in Germany. and 1 from a running partner in Italy. Note: 20 events of the 266 were in indoor\/outdoor spaces.<\/li><li>The most common cluster settings captured in the database are: households, large shared accommodation settings (e.g. dormitory, lodge, group home), sports settings, religious settings (e.g. indoor church services), food processing plants, and elder care settings&nbsp;<strong>(Table 1&nbsp;<\/strong>and&nbsp;<strong>Figure 1)<\/strong>.<\/li><li>There are several events not yet captured in the database that are relevant. Last week, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/07\/03\/well\/live\/coronavirus-spread-outdoors-party.html\"><em>New York Times<\/em>&nbsp;provided a nice synthesis<\/a>, including reports of COVID transmission at a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/lifestyle\/the-virus-didnt-stop-a-washington-socialite-from-throwing-a-backyard-soiree-then-the-tests-came-back-positive\/2020\/07\/01\/841041ba-ba19-11ea-bdaf-a129f921026f_story.html\">DC socialite\u2019s backyard soiree<\/a>. And at the beginning of July, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/07\/01\/nyregion\/nyc-coronavirus-protests.html\"><em>Times<\/em>&nbsp;reported<\/a>&nbsp;that recent protests had not caused a wave in infections, \u201cIn Minnesota, an initiative that targeted demonstrators<a href=\"https:\/\/www.startribune.com\/minnesota-virus-cases-decline-despite-mass-protest-fears\/571421142\/?refresh=true\">&nbsp;found that 1.5 percent of them<\/a>&nbsp;tested positive. In Massachusetts,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2020\/06\/23\/nation\/baker-25-percent-protesters-tested-positive-coronavirus\/\">fewer than 3 percent<\/a>&nbsp;of protesters did.\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"a0d9\"><strong>Table 1. Cluster Settings&nbsp;<\/strong>(from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/16wtnHe4hM6I7TFHXVpLXY8R4GAUzAJ-7NWbKIVvsVuA\/edit#gid=1131322210\">COVID-19 Settings of Transmission Database<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/miro.medium.com\/max\/880\/1%2A-GGuDCtex6dgcG3Dc4mCog.png?w=723&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Image for post\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"93f8\"><strong>Figure 1. Case Clusters by Setting and Size (from&nbsp;<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/coronavirus-covid-19-case-clusters-lessons-warnings-reopening\"><strong>ScienceNews<\/strong><\/a><strong>)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/miro.medium.com\/max\/1080\/1%2AKAccNYOjv2I-XJxdZA7oyw.png?w=723&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Image for post\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question:&nbsp;What do we know about transmission risk in outdoor settings? We\u2019ve been doing a lot more of seeing our friends in socially distanced, outdoor spaces because we know it\u2019s safer than indoors. Even so, how much are we chancing it? Answer:&nbsp;The more we know, the more we can be confident that: a) outdoor settings are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-risk-reduction","category-transmission-routes","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/covidqanda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/July-11.png?fit=540%2C720&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=370"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":372,"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions\/372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}