SPORTS RUNNING
Mask Your Feelings Exercising outside has everyone on edge. Shaming one another doesn’t help.
Running gives Margaret Sprock a temporary escape from her restricted routine. Like many other local residents during the novel coronavirus pandemic, exercising outside is one of the few reasons Sprock leaves her home, and she’s using this opportunity to explore the neighborhood and new running routes near where she lives in Silver Spring. “I think I would go crazy if I couldn't get out and exercise,” Sprock says. She also tries to follow health guidelines and safety precautions as diligently as possible while running. Sprock, 29, runs alone and feels strongly that others should do the same. When she sees someone walking, she assumes the responsibility of going around them and will wait for walkers to pass when crossing a bridge or intersection. She always washes her hands when she gets home. So when a woman driving a car pulled up next to her at a traffic light during a recent afternoon run, Sprock smiled and thought she was asking for directions. Instead, the woman berated her. “I stopped and looked at her, and she said, ‘You’re running without a mask. You’re breathing all over people. Who do you think you are?’” Sprock recalls. “She asked me, ‘What’s your name?’ I was like, OK, I’m getting out of here.” Sprock isn’t the only one being shamed, policed, or publicly chastised—whether online or in person—for not following what may or may not be a rule. Neighborhood forums have disintegrated into virtual shouting matches about the merits of running during a global pandemic. Runners, in turn, have gotten angry at walkers who take up the width of trails and sidewalks and at cyclists and skateboarders who whiz by without warning. Everyone, it seems, is on edge. Social distancing recommendations can be ambiguous and people are understandably scared, considering the coronavirus pandemic has led to more than 169,000 deaths worldwide and more than 44,000 deaths in the United States as of April 22. Even the simple joy of outdoor physical activity can quickly escalate into a contentious situation. “I think people have so much stress in their lives right now, whether it’s the loss of a job or just fear,” Sprock says. “It kind of makes people
Illustration by Hunter Myers
By Kelyn Soong @KelynSoong
around them an easy target or outlet for taking those feelings out on them.” That’s not to say runners are faultless. Sometimes they get too close to others while passing. They ignore social and physical distancing recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by running in groups. Local residents on social media report runners blasting by them with little room to spare. With gyms closed and more people turning to running for exercise, it may be hard for everyone to share trails or sidewalks, especially in a dense city like D.C. Newer runners may not understand the common etiquette of giving walkers a warning when behind them. Two weeks ago, a Bloomingdale resident posted on the neighborhood message board website Nextdoor imploring runners to not get so close. “If you are running, I don’t want to break your stride. Really,” the person wrote. “But, please, please for the time being, please dont [sic] blow past people sweating, huffing and puffing within 2 feet. I get it, you need to get your exercise in, but please consider the health of others while doing it. That is all.” “Agreed. It’s a bit selfish on the runners part,” a Truxton Circle resident replied. The post led to a spirited discussion about what runners should or should not do. Another D.C. resident wrote: “I personally hope the city starts fining anyone walking, running, breathing outside without a mask on. Oh and a super large fine if you spit on the sidewalk. Everyone—just wear a mask.”
10 april 24, 2020 washingtoncitypaper.com
The viral “study” by Belgian and Dutch researchers about runners needing to stay more than the recommended six feet apart from others also made an appearance. As Vice points out, epidemiologists have not found the study to be very useful. Some comments online have been decidedly less civil. “Saw a girl crossing the street to avoid two runners without masks then get boxed in by yet another runner without a mask in the bike lane and she just screamed ‘FUCK ALL OF YOU’ and I want her to be president,” tweeted Los Angeles-based comedian Dan Sheehan. General guidelines have added to the confusion of what is permissible. The CDC recommends “wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.” In Montgomery County, where Sprock lives, face masks are required in “grocery stores, pharmacies, and large chain retail establishments.” So should runners wear masks or a face covering? The answer depends on the situation. Dr. William Schaffner, the medical director for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, a non-profit organization based in Bethesda, does not believe runners should be required to wear masks. “The risk of transmission is through prolonged face-to-face contact with someone else, within six feet in an enclosed room. That’s where the real risk of transmission occurs,” he
says. “If you are whisking past someone as a jogger, your chances of picking up coronavirus from that jogger—should they be asymptomatic—the possibility of transmission is very, very low ... My suggestion is to interpret general guidelines to a specific situation. In terms of exercising, one of the things I recommend is to be somewhere you can exercise that is less densely populated. Go during off-peak hours where there are fewer people on the street.” Schaffner also works as a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, where he says he sees “a lot of people walking, joggers, and the occasional bicyclists.” But it’s not nearly at the level of a crowded city like D.C., where trails and sidewalks can get busy, particularly during hours when residents are off work. In those scenarios, Schaffner recommends wearing a cloth face covering (not surgical masks or N95 respirators) while exercising—for health reasons and as a symbolic gesture. “If that’s the kind of situation, I would be more inclined to say that we all have to get with the program, that you have to wear a mask if there’s the density of people out there,” he says. “I think both for symbolic reasons and that you’re passing so many people, maybe it would be wise to wear some sort of face covering or mask—runners as well. If a lot of people are on the trail and you’re passing them not every five minutes, but every 30 seconds, then I think you should be wearing masks. Even passing momentarily, you’re encountering an awful lot of people.” “Runners should neither be villainized nor