Can I visit friends? Go to the beach? Expert advice on what’s safe as Maryland relaxes coronavirus restrictions

Outdoor visits are better than indoors. Don’t share food or drinks. Keep your nose and mouth covered in stores and any other time you might come across a crowd. Most importantly, use common sense.

As many Marylanders begin to emerge from more than a month under a coronavirus stay-at-home order and businesses, beaches, parks and pools begin to welcome visitors, we asked two doctors who are members of Gov. Larry Hogan’s coronavirus task force to share their suggestions on how people can stay safe and healthy.

Social distancing, avoiding crowds and washing your hands thoroughly and often will sound familiar to those who have been listening to the official medical guidance during the COVID-19 crisis.

But the state’s phased reopening depends on sustained declines in hospitalizations and intensive care cases, which could reverse if people resume their normal activities too quickly. In the case of a large outbreak, we could be headed right back to square one.

“All we’re doing is trying our best to save lives and salvage what we can,” said Dr. Wilbur Chen, associate professor of medicine and adult infectious disease expert in the University of Maryland’s Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health. “It’s a no-win situation, and what we’re trying to do is the least amount of harm.”

Is it safe to visit friends and family?

First, while the statewide stay-at-home order has been lifted, local jurisdictions, including Baltimore City and Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, have kept restrictions in place, so be sure you’re following your local regulations.

Outdoor visits are the best way to see friends and family in person, and everyone should bring their own food and drinks, and stay at least 6 feet apart, Chen said. He suggested a picnic in the park or a backyard chat around a fire pit, for instance.

“Outdoors is better,” Chen said. “We don’t want to encourage a lot of sharing of food and common objects. Don’t pass the beer bottle around. … Minimize group size as much as possible.”

Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said he would still discourage people from gathering “given the risks of transmission that we have seen in birthday parties, dinner parties, funerals [and] churches.”

“IF people do gather, they should keep at least six feet apart and wear cloth masks,” Inglesby wrote in an email. “Would advise against people visiting with their elderly relatives, given the possibility of accidentally transmitting the virus to these more vulnerable relatives.”

When do I need to wear a mask?

Masks or cloth face covers are still required by law in grocery stores, pharmacies, retail stores and other establishments.

Inglesby said they should be worn any time you might be close to others, even outdoors.

“Everyone should wear cloth face masks whenever they are in any indoor spaces outside of their home, or if they are going to be in close proximity to people outdoors,” Inglesby said.

Chen compared wearing a mask to not smoking in restaurants and other enclosed spaces.

“Smoking is totally about, not the safety of the person who’s lighting up, but the people around them,” he said. “That person wants to smoke and they’re not doing it for their health. … It’s the same thing with masking. Nobody is saying cloth masks are protecting the person who’s wearing them. It’s about protecting people around them and sending the message that I care about the people around me.”

Can I catch COVID-19 from swimming at the pool or at the beach?

The good news: The chlorine in most pools and the vastness of the ocean make catching the coronavirus from swimming in the water an unlikely risk of catching the coronavirus.

The bad news: Both places tend to draw large crowds on any nice summer day, even when people haven’t been enduring a monthlong lockdown.

Swimming is “probably a safe sport if you’re not in a crowded setting,” Chen said. But sharing any space with lots of people, and using shared bathrooms, showers and high-touch surfaces that aren’t being cleaned between uses presents a risk of infection.

“That’s a setup for an outbreak,” he said. “Chlorine makes the pool safe, but it’s the whole community around the pool.”

Are play dates for kids a good idea?

Apologies to parents who desperately want to send their children to a playground, a friend’s house — anywhere to get them back with their playmates and out of your hair.

This will not be the answer you (or they) want to hear.

“I understand that’s part of healthy upbringing for a child,” Chen said. “But having children touch each other and objects — you can’t prevent that to some extent, and if they do, parents are risking bringing home an infection to the family.”

If you do let your children play with others, have them wash their hands often and try to limit the number of other children they play with.

Too many play dates, Chen warned, could be “an outbreak waiting to happen.”

What about shopping? Restaurants? Religious services?

Retail stores in many areas in the state were allowed to reopen at 50% capacity over the weekend, and customers wearing masks and practicing social distancing while shopping run no more of a risk than they do at grocery stores and pharmacies, Inglesby said.

Restaurants, bars and breweries all remain closed except for take-out, and when they re-open, customers should consider their own risk levels and observe the safety measures employees are taking, Chen said.

“Is it actually that important for them to go out to a restaurant?” he asked. “Are they high-risk? Can they still continue to get takeout and bring it home? … I do feel for [restaurants]. It’s not that I don’t want them to have any business at all, but we want people to be measured and self-responsible.”

Inglesby said he “would advise against opening churches again given the risk of transmission that has been documented in a number of church-related outbreaks.”

What about dating?

As with visits with relatives and friends, dates should take place outdoors and at a distance for the time being. “Touching each other, or more, is an invitation to transmit viruses,” Chen said.

Casual, non-committal dating with multiple partners presents the highest risk of infection and therefore creates the potential for an outbreak, he said.

“It doesn’t mean you can’t meet together and chat and things like that,” Chen said. But he added: “Is that what people have in their minds when they date? I’m not sure.”

I’ve gotta get off the couch. What sports or exercise are safest?

Non-contact sports and solo exercise such as running or jogging, bicycling, rollerblading and skateboarding are preferable to contact sports with shared equipment like basketball or soccer.

While wearing a mask on a run might not be practical, try to avoid others and don’t go in groups, because heavy breathing during exercise can transmit viral particles, Chen said.

“Any sort of sport where you normally would contact other people, that would be a no,” he said. “Outdoor sports are OK, provided they’re in very small groups.”

Chen said he was excited to get back out onto the tennis courts with his middle school-aged daughters, who have learned to rally. But he said he would discourage people from playing mixed doubles with others who aren’t members of their households.

I’m hearing a lot about what I shouldn’t do. What activities do you recommend?

Picnics, hikes, flying a kite, playing frisbee, kicking or throwing a ball around are all great ways to get outsides and expend energy after being pent up, Chen said — so long as they’re done with members of your household.

He understands the frustrations of those who are ready for normal life and summertime activities to resume. But he is concerned about people flocking together prematurely and exposing themselves to a possible COVID-19 outbreak.

“I don’t like to be a downer, but I’m just voicing concern about the transmission or outbreak risk during the early phases of opening,” Chen said. “We don’t know how in the clear we are. Getting overly enthusiastic about all these activities which we normally want to engage in is, to me, a risk.”

If coronavirus cases begin to rapidly accelerate in Maryland, officials might be forced to intervene by placing additional social distancing restrictions, “which no one would want to happen,” Inglesby said.

“That is why it is so important for everyone to continue on an individual basis to wear cloth masks when in indoor spaces outside of the home, maintain physical distance of at least 6 feet, avoid gatherings and telecommute if their work situation allows,” he said.