I’m in a US state where the rule is now “limit public movements and interactions outside the home to essential services and activities”.
Apparently, many people are interpreting this as “must stay indoors”. I’m wondering if this is right, or whether (say) walking around the yard you own and tending the garden is acceptable. Surely such activities do not entail risk of catching or spreading a virus - right?
IMHO, if you’re by yourself in your own yard, you aren’t engaged in any “interactions,” and you might not even be outside your home.
Can you tell us which state this is, or what the order actually says?
I would think that being outdoors per se doesn’t pose any particular risk, as long as you don’t come near other people or touch objects that others might touch.
No, going outside and tending to your garden is fine. So is walking around the block at a reasonable distance from other people. Even if the virus is spread by aerosol (which seems very likely) the dispersal in an outside environment is sufficient that a few meters of distance should be enough to reduce the likelihood of infection to a very low probability. And if it is so infectious that your neighbor can catch it from you across the garden fence, no quarantine measures short of pressure-sealed bubbles is going to be adequate, anyway.
The biggest concerns with activities outside the home aside from congregations of people are that someone engaging in energetic activity like running or hiking might be injured and divert EMS and medical services from caring for COVID-19 patients. So, take a few weeks to set aside the rock climbing or marathon running and focus on basic conditioning or low risk agility training instead. But getting outside, in the sunlight and with nature is very important, not only for emotional health but potentially for immune system response as well.
Stranger
We are under shelter in place orders in Arizona. People are absolutely allowed to leave their houses for necessities such as food, medicine, and health care. People are also allowed to go out for a walk, walk their dogs, etc. as long as they follow social distancing guidelines. The governor is even permitting golf courses to stay open, which has raised more than a few eyebrows.
If you live in a house with a yard, going out in your own yard ought to be fine. Letting your kids play in your own yard should be fine too.
If you live in an apartment, it gets dicier, albeit, my dog was going nuts yesterday, so I got my bike out, and rode around the building twice (not on any city roads, just on the streets around the building, and we didn’t encounter any traffic) with her on her leash. It was the only way I could think of to get her to run hard, because playing with the dog across the hall in the little dog park somehow wasn’t cutting it today.
Normally, she goes twice a week to a daycare, where she spends 10 hours running around with other dogs. She just needed to run around a big space.
I took her out at 2, and after being squirrelly all morning, she slept the rest of the day. She also stopped barking, because she was to tired to bother.
Truth be told, the exercise was good for me too.
I don’t know what the kids in my building are doing. I have a feeling there are other people co-isolating with people on the same floor, so kids can play together. But I also know there are actually some people related to one another in the same building, so if they are co-isolating, that makes total sense.
Not to mention allowing hair and nail salons to stay open as “essential”
But I live on a mountain, a pretty steep one, and I have never ever seen so many people walking up the mountain.
I wouldn’t go to the barber even if it were allowed. Too much contact with the barber, who’d be in close contact with all the other customers. WAY too risky!
Nail salons would be just as bad.
In the US state where I live, the governor recently issued a stay-at-home order. I read the order itself in detail. Outdoor walking and running and hiking are explicitly called out as “essential activities” that are provided for under the order, as long as six foot distances are maintained, and as long as no groups of 10 or more gather.
I haven’t read all such orders, but have found newspaper articles about several other states saying that hiking is allowed. National parks have stopped charging entrance fees to encourage it, according to the Secretary of the Interior.
Both Maryland’s and Virginia’s stay-at-home orders allow people to leave their residences to go walking, running, hiking, and bicycling as long as they don’t do it in groups, and maintain six-foot distances with those they encounter.
Now here’s the weird shit about Maryland’s stay-at-home order. Here’s what the order itself calls ‘essential activities’ which seem pretty circumscribed:
But the FAQ says, among other things:
So if you and your lawn service agree that it’s essential that they mow your grass, then no problemo! Ditto if you’re healthy and your cleaning lady is willing to keep on cleaning your house. Yeah, it’s essential that someone else vacuum my floors and clean my toilets!
Seriously, dafuq?? If those services can be regarded as essential if the provider and the customer agree that they are, it’s hard to imagine what wouldn’t be essential, given similar concurrence.
Someone who is disabled might reasonably think a cleaning service is essential. Can’t see how letting the grass go for a month is going to matter thiugh.
Who gets within six feet of the landscapers as they’re working, usually either riding or carrying something noisy and bladed? 
But the landscapers get close to one another. It’s making another hole in social distancing by continuing the service.
Social distancing doesn’t require property owners to let their property go to pot, especially if it’s going to last until the end of April. The relevant provision in Illinois is:
Landscapers aren’t expressly listed, and a week or two of tree/bush/lawn growth arguably doesn’t impact safety or sanitation, but I dare say a month’s worth does.
I’m imagining really, really long scissors…
The rules are pretty vague in the UK as well, with contradictions on stuff like whether it’s OK to drive to somewhere for a walk, or to walk the dogs; you’re supposed to stay in your local area, which is fair enough, except how far is that? If you live in a built-up area, it could make more sense to drive 10 minutes away to a quiet spot to walk, as the nearby streets can be really busy, but no-one seems to know if it’s allowed.
A power mower and a leaf blower will throw stuff a long ways.
Golly, yes a whole month of not mowing the lawn. The question is whether short grass is essential. No one is mandating you leave your lawn untouched, it’s a matter of what constitutes an essential service.
Hell, this is America, where gun dealers are essential! USA!
I can’t believe how common the idea is that we’re under orders to stay inside and never go anywhere. I don’t know a state in which this is true (not saying there isn’t one, just that I don’t know of any off the top of my head). My cousin was complaining about how we never get to enjoy the outdoors now, and as she’s in a different state than I am, I gave her my sympathies and told her I’m glad I can at least enjoy walks. Lo and behold, her friends all said they can as well. It’s just that complaining about not being able to do things you are still totally allowed to do is a popular online pastime :rolleyes:
If I let my lawn grow for a month during the period when it’s growing the fastest, it would get to the point where it would be really difficult to mow (clogging up the mower).
Yes, having short grass isn’t essential. But having some guy out in your yard mowing it isn’t particularly risky, either.
CarnalK, your last post suggests a paradigm of the homeowner in a detached house who can mow his own lawn. I’m in a condo complex with lawns and trees between the buildings, including trees overhanging the walkways and parking lots and bushes next to walkways. “The homeowner” isn’t going to mow “his” lawn and trim “his” trees and bushes unless someone is employed for the purpose.