Risk of coronavirus transmission is lower outdoors, some evidence shows - Business Insider

That outdoor time is likely low-risk, according to some preliminary evidence, as long as you're on your own or with the members of your household — and far from everyone else."This virus really likes people being indoors in an enclosed space for prolonged periods of close face-to-face contact," William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University, told Business Insider. In all but one of those outbreaks — which each involved three or more cases — the virus jumped between people indoors."The general principle should be: Outside is better than inside; open is better than closed; fewer is better than more people; and stay away from sick people," Dr. Erich Anderer, a neurosurgeon and founding member of the North Brooklyn Runners group, previously told Insider.According to Schaffner, the reasons your chances of infection might be lower outside are that it's easier to maintain social distance outdoors, and the virus has to navigate wind, heat, and humidity to jump between people.But he warned that the findings of the pre-print study from China (which has not been peer-reviewed) need to "be taken with a pound of salt," since most of the incidences the researchers analyzed occurred while much of China was under lockdown. According to Schaffner, behavior matters most when it comes to coronavirus risk."What you do becomes the single most important thing, less so the environment," he said.He suggests being very careful when in or near gatherings of people of any size, and "when in doubt, don't be stubborn and wear a mask."Masks protect other people from any germs the wearer might be carrying, so are imperative in situations where it's difficult to maintain 6 feet of distance, Schaffner added.