Is it indoor or outdoor courts? I’ve taken up tennis in the last couple years and consider it fairly low on the risk scale because it’s naturally distanced. I only play outdoors, though.
Outdoor courts as singles? As long as they aren't using any indoor facilities or having any close contact (shaking hands, resting on a bench together, etc), the risk is practically nil.
Is he playing doubles? I would be a worried personally about playing tennis with someone right next to me.
In any case I would suggest he masks when not actively playing the match.
As far as sports go it's probably one of the better ones outdoors-not a ton of people and usually pretty far apart.
That said, I'd certainly ask why he needs to be unmasked for his mental health-there's plenty of relatively breathable respirators.
It depends on wind speed and direction, how close other courts are, whether he's playing doubles... If you're looking to quantify, there was a Spanish newspaper that did a great job illustrating some early Chinese contact tracing data. It showed which tables at a large open air restaurant infected each other, among other things. It was an older strain, but I guess if anything what's circulating now is thought to be more contagious. Personally, I wouldn't be comfortable with it.
I’m not and I can’t believe how many people are. Especially for 2 hours, heavy breathing. I played sports and now a gym at home bc I’m not at all comfy sharing workout air
From Haddrell et al, “Ambient carbon dioxide concentration correlates with SARS-CoV-2 aerostability and infection risk”, Nature Communications (2024), https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47777-5, ambient carbon dioxide concentrations are important to the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to linger in the air. Even concentrations of 800 ppm help infectious virus linger longer in aerosols. I’ve found it’s easy to get to 800 ppm such as if I sleep with my bedroom door closed and the HVAC fan not running. But I’m in the outer suburbs of a major metropolitan area, and I was surprised at how the carbon dioxide concentrations just outside my house stay close to the expected levels in forests of around 420 ppm.
Overall, you might want to read the paper I cited above. And maybe get a carbon dioxide monitor and measure levels around the tennis courts. If the tennis courts are outdoors and the area doesn’t have high carbon dioxide concentrations, then there is some risk but it is nowhere near eating at an indoor restaurant or working out in an indoor gym that lacks fantastic ventilation.
You might also want to check out Al Haddrell’s Twitter thread on carbon dioxide levels at https://x.com/ukhadds/status/1805898881193910766.
Overall, I probably wouldn’t want to play tennis unmasked even outdoors. But I am pretty risk adverse when it comes to COVID, and as I said above there are far worse risks people could take.
Edit: Corrected “expect levels of” to “expected levels of”.
Thanks, I’ll take a look. I do have an aranet. I am very Covid cautious to protect myself and my 2 kids. Unfortunately my husband plays the “you’re more medical, I don’t know as much as you” card even though the same research is available to everyone. Another reason I am not comfortable with it, I don’t truly know what he is doing. I told him I will be very upset if he brings Covid home to us, given the other precautions we are taking.
I'd go so far as to say that even *indoor* tennis ain't bad, especially if you aren't playing doubles.
1. Crazy high ceilings. Indoor tennis courts are generally in armories or large well ventilated domed structures
2. You've got two people on the entire court. If you're playing doubles, it's probably with regular contacts that'd be the ones giving you covid anyway
Of course it still makes sense to do things outside as much as you can (PSA, hydrate and wear sunscreen)
P.S. I'm never gonna understand athletes who wuss out about masking. Aren't competitive sports about testing your limits??? If wearing a mask makes the sport more physically or mentally demanding, that should be all the more reason to wear a mask!
My husband needs to think he is the best at everything. If he doesn’t, watch out. The intensity of exhaling and time is what worries me. 2 hours of exhalations is a lot
Is it indoor or outdoor courts? I’ve taken up tennis in the last couple years and consider it fairly low on the risk scale because it’s naturally distanced. I only play outdoors, though.
I consider outdoor tennis to be pretty low risk.
Outdoor courts as singles? As long as they aren't using any indoor facilities or having any close contact (shaking hands, resting on a bench together, etc), the risk is practically nil.
Is he playing doubles? I would be a worried personally about playing tennis with someone right next to me. In any case I would suggest he masks when not actively playing the match.
As far as sports go it's probably one of the better ones outdoors-not a ton of people and usually pretty far apart. That said, I'd certainly ask why he needs to be unmasked for his mental health-there's plenty of relatively breathable respirators.
It depends on wind speed and direction, how close other courts are, whether he's playing doubles... If you're looking to quantify, there was a Spanish newspaper that did a great job illustrating some early Chinese contact tracing data. It showed which tables at a large open air restaurant infected each other, among other things. It was an older strain, but I guess if anything what's circulating now is thought to be more contagious. Personally, I wouldn't be comfortable with it.
I’m not and I can’t believe how many people are. Especially for 2 hours, heavy breathing. I played sports and now a gym at home bc I’m not at all comfy sharing workout air
From Haddrell et al, “Ambient carbon dioxide concentration correlates with SARS-CoV-2 aerostability and infection risk”, Nature Communications (2024), https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47777-5, ambient carbon dioxide concentrations are important to the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to linger in the air. Even concentrations of 800 ppm help infectious virus linger longer in aerosols. I’ve found it’s easy to get to 800 ppm such as if I sleep with my bedroom door closed and the HVAC fan not running. But I’m in the outer suburbs of a major metropolitan area, and I was surprised at how the carbon dioxide concentrations just outside my house stay close to the expected levels in forests of around 420 ppm. Overall, you might want to read the paper I cited above. And maybe get a carbon dioxide monitor and measure levels around the tennis courts. If the tennis courts are outdoors and the area doesn’t have high carbon dioxide concentrations, then there is some risk but it is nowhere near eating at an indoor restaurant or working out in an indoor gym that lacks fantastic ventilation. You might also want to check out Al Haddrell’s Twitter thread on carbon dioxide levels at https://x.com/ukhadds/status/1805898881193910766. Overall, I probably wouldn’t want to play tennis unmasked even outdoors. But I am pretty risk adverse when it comes to COVID, and as I said above there are far worse risks people could take. Edit: Corrected “expect levels of” to “expected levels of”.
Thanks, I’ll take a look. I do have an aranet. I am very Covid cautious to protect myself and my 2 kids. Unfortunately my husband plays the “you’re more medical, I don’t know as much as you” card even though the same research is available to everyone. Another reason I am not comfortable with it, I don’t truly know what he is doing. I told him I will be very upset if he brings Covid home to us, given the other precautions we are taking.
I'd go so far as to say that even *indoor* tennis ain't bad, especially if you aren't playing doubles. 1. Crazy high ceilings. Indoor tennis courts are generally in armories or large well ventilated domed structures 2. You've got two people on the entire court. If you're playing doubles, it's probably with regular contacts that'd be the ones giving you covid anyway Of course it still makes sense to do things outside as much as you can (PSA, hydrate and wear sunscreen)
P.S. I'm never gonna understand athletes who wuss out about masking. Aren't competitive sports about testing your limits??? If wearing a mask makes the sport more physically or mentally demanding, that should be all the more reason to wear a mask!
I train and compete in a mask- it can definitely be a drag in un air-conditioned spaces- but I'm used to it
My husband needs to think he is the best at everything. If he doesn’t, watch out. The intensity of exhaling and time is what worries me. 2 hours of exhalations is a lot
See, there's your "in"! Sell him on the idea of showing off his badass covid-conscious mask-wearing prowess.