Wearing a Mask While Running Sucks. You Might Have to Do It Anyway.
How to enjoy your outdoor workout while keeping other people safe
In early April, the CDC recommended that people cover their faces with a cloth mask in public settings. Since then, wearing masks while exercising in public has become a social norm in many places, enforced by side eyes, messages on neighborhood social media groups, and signs like one taped to a tree in Brooklyn and addressed to joggers and bicyclists: “PUT ON A FUCKING MASK.”
The actual guidance on mask-wearing while exercising outside varies by location. For instance, under Covid-19 face-covering orders in California’s San Mateo County, face masks are not explicitly required when exercising outdoors. However, exercisers are advised to have a face covering handy and accessible just in case they encounter a situation where they can’t maintain a six-foot distance. But in the city of Manhattan Beach in southern California, it is “strongly encouraged” that residents cover their faces while biking and running, “to reduce the likelihood of spreading the virus through increased respiration levels.”
