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Dena Evans, director of the Peninsula Distance Club, had already put ground rules in place last week before the seven-county lockdown to help combat the coronavirus pandemic.
The Redwood City resident told her group of 40 runners she would only coach a few at a time, and from a distance. Once the shelter-in-place orders were enacted by government officials last week, she stopped face-to-face training sessions period.
Evans’ conservative approach to social distancing underscores the tricky decisions Bay Area residents are having to make as it pertains to proper outdoor exercise protocol. How different municipalities interpret and enforce the new county ordinances is in a feeling-out period–and largely will depend on whether health officials think it’s working.
“It is an interesting intersection where the thing people use to de-stress becomes problematic because it can be the conductor for health problems,” said Evans, formerly the Stanford University cross-country coach. “Instead of looking for loopholes to exploit gray areas, let’s see if we can be leaders.”
Many Californians didn’t follow Evans’ lead last weekend, when crowds of people enjoyed outdoor recreation across the state—and avoided social distancing. In response, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered the immediate closure of parking lots at many of the state’s most popular parks and beaches in the latest restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus.
“I don’t want to close big, beautiful open spaces — not when we’re encouraging people to go outside with intention and purpose,” Newsom said. “But we can’t see what we saw over the weekend happen again.”
Ben Dodge, Los Gatos Bike Club president and coach of a South Bay high school mountain bike team, was among those trying to practice social distancing while recreating. Pedal alone or with only a housemate, he has told club and team members. No groups whatsoever.
“I won’t ride or run with anyone who isn’t part of my immediate family,” he said. “I don’t want to give it to my new daughter, who was born Sunday.”
Add to that perspective this: Italy and Spain have taken the measure of banning bike riding during the COVID-19 outbreak. Could such an extreme measure be taken here if effective social distancing protocol isn’t followed?
Virtual recreation
Dodge said many cyclists already have turned to Zwift, a virtual training app for running and cycling to simulate group rides. If Bay Area residents are restricted from exercising outside, Dodge said the cyclists he knows are prepared to set up indoor cycling trainers to keep active.
For the past two nights, Evans’ runners used the video conferencing website Zoom to do group core training workouts.
“We’re uniquely positioned at this time in history to have a little more community than otherwise because of technology,” said Evans, who had planned to run the Boston Marathon next month for the first time since the bombings in 2013. (The race has been rescheduled to Sept. 14.)
Medical experts said this week that as long as people follow the government guidelines for social distancing — no groups that aren’t direct family members, staying at least six feet apart from others — activities such as jogging, cycling, hiking and walking are important for physical and mental health.
Alexei Wagner, medical director within Stanford’s Department of Emergency Medicine, said the sweeping restrictions lasting at least through April 7 have only further ingrained the importance of fresh air and exercise in people’s lives.
“Anything anyone can do to help optimize their health in the next weeks to months could potentially help them if they got infected by the coronavirus,” Wagner said.
The counties’ joint statement said cycling, jogging and hiking were fine. It did not mention other recreational pursuits. But medical experts said all contact sports are out for now.
The seven-county order calls for no gatherings, but the statement does not specify whether two people shooting a basketball on an outdoor hoop or four people knocking a volleyball around on a sand court constitute a gathering.
For diehard beach volleyball players like Heajin and Dan Kamalani, of Capitola, the right thing to do is clear.
“It’s all shut down — I think the volleyball community is being respectful of the ordinance,” Heajin said via text, along with a picture of an old badminton net now set up in their backyard. “We put this up because we’re crazy. It’ll do for now.”
For Bay Area coastal dwellers, surfing would seemingly be acceptable, as long as surfers keep their distance. But what if a good swell brought a swarm of 50 or 100 to a certain break?
“We are focusing on education and communication right now,” Ashley Keehn, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, said via email. “If there is a crowded surf spot or beach, we are asking individuals to spread out.”
Exercising caution
Avid cyclist Jessica Jensen, of Oakland, has diligently read the local government edicts because she understands her actions affect the community. But Jensen, 42, also is not about to stay indoors as a member of the Grizzly Peak Cyclists.
Jensen, who helps organize 100-mile group rides for her club, said she will not be cycling with more than five people for the foreseeable future. Jensen said she has had to curtail her normally active social life.
“I’m staring into the abyss,” she said. “My bike is my only true outlet right now.”
Evans said running and cycling clubs are important because they foster fellowship among enthusiasts. The environment also helps push competition-minded athletes to reach their potential in what ultimately are individual sports.
San Jose ultramarathoner Bree Lambert has continued to train in parks and open spaces near her home. But Lambert has had to alter her job as a fitness trainer. She has moved her operations out of a facility and into public parks.
“I hope I don’t get arrested,” she said Monday.
Lambert and others shouldn’t run into trouble with authorities as long as they obey local rules for gathering and social distancing.
“I would like to think that we need outdoor time,” Lambert said. “As humans, we have to step outside and breathe fresh air and get a good dose of nature. If we are confined to our homes, that sounds awful.”
Lambert said she is used to seeing mountain bikers and equestrians on her long runs, but for the past week fewer people were on the trail.
“It was kind of eerie,” said Lambert, who was training to run her first Boston Marathon next month.
Ellen Jo Baron, a retired Stanford University professor of pathology who directed diagnostic microbiology and virology laboratories for more than three decades, knows a few things about viruses and how they’re transmitted.
Baron’s best advice: Enjoy the outdoors but do it in a fairly isolated, conservative fashion. Don’t stop to talk to others and be mindful not to touch railings, such as those on a bridge or a staircase.
And, most likely, even a tennis ball.
“Coronavirus sits on that ball and is happy for a couple of hours,” Baron said.
Dick Gould, Stanford’s tennis coach for 38 years until retiring in 2004, has been telling friends to stay away from the courts because of the uncertainty over the ball. No one knows what that fuzzy green material might collect and transmit between players.
“When it gets right down to it, we need to do the right thing,” Gould said. “Playing tennis is different than walking around the block.”
But by all means, self-isolate with some tennis, he said: Hit a ball against a wall.
With the coronavirus potentially limiting our usual freedoms until the summer or fall, medical experts say the games have changed but must go on. Our well-being is counting on it.
“This isn’t voodoo medicine,” Stanford’s Wagner said. “If you’re healthy, you’ll be better off.”
Maggie Angst contributed to this story.
