I’ve seen a lot of confusion about what we can and cannot do, exercise-wise, during COVID-19. That’s not surprising because what the law says, what the government guidelines say, and what Michael Gove has suggested are all different. In this blog post, I’ll break it down.
You can read Coronavirus Act on Parliament’s website. Which you probably should do, because I have no legal training and am in no way providing any kind of indemnified legal advice.
Can I go outside to exercise?
Yes. In order to leave your home, you need a reasonable excuse. The law (in England) then lists these reasons and includes “to take exercise either alone or with other members of their household”.
Can I go outside to exercise with other people?
Not unless you live with them, as the law says you can only go either alone or with members of your household.
Can I go out more than once per day?
Yes, you can. The law does not prohibit this.
However, where possible, you should avoid this. The government guidelines (which are guidelines, not laws) ask us to keep it to once per day and while it is not illegal to go out more, it makes sense for us to follow the guidelines.
Note that this specifically applies to England: in Wales, you are legally limited to going out once per day for exercise.
Is there a limit as to how far I can go?
No. You can go as far as you want. Neither the law nor the government guidelines, place any restrictions on distance.
That said, it makes sense to stick to your usual routine. If you try a 200-mile ride for the first time and end up exploding and needing someone to come pick you up, that is someone else having to travel.
Do I have to keep it to a maximum of one hour?
No, neither the law nor the government guidelines specify any kind of limit.
I think this may have come from a press briefing where Michael Gove said he expected people would be running for 30 minutes to an hour and encouraged people to stick to their regular routine.
Sticking to your regular routine makes sense, as explained above, so if you don’t usually exercise for more than an hour, I wouldn’t start now. But if you usually do long runs and rides, you are free to continue doing so.
Can I travel somewhere to start my exercise?
Some people have been travelling to national parks to exercise in the middle of nowhere. Can you do this? Probably, but you probably shouldn’t.
The law says you can go out to exercise, and the government guidelines don’t explicitly ban driving to a park either, but the government has said that you should avoid doing this during press briefings.
The concern is that more cars on the road, means more potential collisions, taking up hospital resources. Therefore, unless there is a specific reason you cannot exercise from your home, you should start from your front door.
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Tags: covid-19, global health, health, pandemic
This entry was posted on Saturday, April 4th, 2020 at 4:57 pm and is filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.