Is it safe to take your kid to the playground during a pandemic? Experts weigh in
As the weather becomes warmer and parks slowly reopen after being shuttered to protect the public from the novel coronavirus, parents are wondering if it’s safe to take their kids to the playground.
Some cities have them taped off, while others have reopened them with visible signs warning people of the risks involved.
But if you ask just about any expert if playground dates are safe, the answer is simple.
“No,” Dr. Gregory Cain, a pediatrician in Port Orchard, Washington, told USA Today.
“Kids are constantly moving from one part of the playground to another and are quite prone to touching their faces — nose, eyes, etc., at intervals,” said Samiksha Raut, an associate professor of biology at University of Alabama at Birmingham, according to WebMD.
“Therefore, if they happen to touch an object with the novel coronavirus, the chances of getting infected are very high.”
“Above all, given their ages, they do not understand the importance of social distancing and, hence, should be actively supervised by parents and/or caretakers,” she added.
The same thinking goes for the nation’s leading agency on infectious diseases.
“Do not use playgrounds, including water playgrounds, located within local, state, or national parks,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. “Using playgrounds might lead to the spread of COVID-19.”
Part of the reason being that playgrounds tend to get crowded, especially when the sun is out, exceeding what’s considered safe in the age of COVID-19.
White House guidelines on “opening up America again” do not specify how to safely go about reopening playgrounds, but they do emphasize physical distancing while visiting parks and outdoor recreation areas.
The CDC recommends keeping at least a 6-foot distance between anyone, including children at playgrounds who may be asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus.
But telling kids to maintain distance while playing on slides and climbing on equipment could be difficult, especially if the area is crowded.
“The intention of a playground is for interaction, and we’re trying to avoid that at this point,” Dr. George Morris, medical incident commander for Minnesota’s CentraCare COVID-19 response team, told MPR News.
“We know outdoors and play is still important, especially at this time of stress and change. We just want it to be in small, family groups, in settings that are safer.”
What’s more, children cannot play in playgrounds without touching just about all the equipment such as monkey bars, poles and slides.
Research shows that the coronavirus can live on copper for up to four hours, cardboard for about one day and on plastic and stainless steel for about two to three days, according to a letter to the editor published in April in The New England Journal of Medicine.
This is a problem for outdoor areas such as playgrounds because proper disinfection is harder to maintain, according to the CDC.
Some experts suggest you clean all touchable surfaces with disinfecting wipes with at least 60% alcohol before letting your child play. However, this might be difficult if other kids are using the area.
Studies have shown that sunlight and ultraviolet rays can kill virus particles on surfaces over time, McClatchy News previously reported, but it’s unknown how long that might take and how other outdoor factors such as rain might affect them.
The CDC also warns that organized activities or sports such as basketball, baseball and football, which require the sharing of equipment, can increase risk of coronavirus exposure.
“The playground is like the Wild West compared to the controlled play date,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at University of California, San Francisco, told The New York Times.
Going for walks around your neighborhood, hiking on nearby trails or being creative in your backyard are ways to ensure the safety of both parent and child, experts say.
This story was originally published May 30, 2020 at 11:19 AM with the headline "Is it safe to take your kid to the playground during a pandemic? Experts weigh in."
