TAMPA, Fla. — From pumping gasoline and playing tennis to eating at a buffet or working out, a new list ranks the activities considered riskiest.
“They took into account multiple factors and came up with the ranking,” Dr. Diane Fite, President of the Texas Medical Association. “How easy would it be to socially distance? Can you wear a mask at these places?”
Fire says activities involving large groups, especially inside, were among those ranked with the highest risk.
“Going to a concert, going to the movies, the bar. Things where there are a lot of people together,” said Dr. Fite. “There are still areas where you congregate together.”
We checked in with two Florida doctors for their take. Dr. Crindy Prins is from the University of Florida, and Dr. Aileen Marty from Florida International University.
“I think it’s very useful for people to have and I think for the most part it’s on point with what I would’ve listed,” said Dr. Prins. “The thing to keep in mind is that they’re doing that ranking but also saying the assumption is that people are taking the highest precautions they can.”
“I think this is more true than not true,” said Dr. Marty. “But you have to finesse it to try to figure out exactly how risky something is.”
Both Florida doctors agree the list is not perfect and can’t take into account every variable.
“Who’s at the beach and who’s in the woods,” asked Dr. Marty. “The bottom line is we catch this from other people.”
“Anytime you’re looking at a list like that or trying to rank things, you’ve got a think a little bit about some of the specifics of the situation may be,” said Dr. Prins. “But at least it gives you some idea if you’re considering an idea where does that fall within the risk. And am I willing to take that risk? Is it something I should be doing or not?”
And that’s the takeaway Texas doctors hope others find helpful.
“We hope it will give them more incentive to please try to follow the suggestions because we really are seeing such an increase in number of sick people,” said Dr. Fite. “We want them to socially distance we want them to use masks; we want them to think twice about going out.”
