What are all your thoughts about outdoor gatherings in parks and outdoor tables at bars? We suffered a long and difficult lock down here in Italy (much stricter than any other country apart from China as we weren't allowed to exercise or walk outside and parks were closed). Lately, I've been to a couple of kids' birthday parties in parks and I met some friends at some outside tables at a bar last week. Everyone eventually removed their masks although we stayed quite far from eachother - at last one meter. We have to wear masks when inside in public places (inside businesses or public transport) but when we're outside we're allowed to remove our masks but still have to follow social distancing guidelines.
Our numbers here in southern Italy are now quite low but I still feel nervous about outdoor gatherings. We tried to keep the kids socially distanced on bikes and having water pistol fights in the park but, inevitably, they got close to eachother.
We've been going outside with our kids pretty regularly, but we've been following all the appropriate protocols. We've been to the playground 6 or 7 times now, we recently joined our local pool and have gone at least 7 times, we've been seeing my in-laws regularly, and we are friends with a local family that we get together with weekly.
My wife's been to the bar, twice, with a good friend of hers but it was outdoor seating and they sat as far from each other as the table would allow.
Where necessary, we wear masks and maintain distance (well, our kids certainly don't). If you look at what's happened here in the States with the innumerable protests, the early consensus is that they did not further the spread of the virus. It's still just a little premature to come to that full conclusion but I think the general evidence suggests that outdoor activity is far less likely to transmit the virus than more closed forms of interaction. Obviously it's not 100% virus-proof (outdoor activity), but it does seem to be a heck of a lot safer than alternatives.
This is the risk level we, as a family, have chosen to take. Simply put, our mental health (collectively, all of us non-infants in our household) deteriorated so much during the stay-at-home orders that the risk of contracting the virus is more appealing than keeping ourselves (especially our boys) locked inside every day. I can't get my youngest two to wear a mask and our oldest just doesn't grasp the concept of social distancing (among many other things), so we are going to limit their interactions to outdoor activity. I think participating in outdoor activities where it's possible to stay a distance from people and to not share too many surfaces is reasonable. If everyone is wearing masks, then I'd say that's about as good as it's going to get in places that don;t eradicate the virus.