Beach Photos Give People the Wrong Idea

[cinematicdiversions]

When articles about pandemic risk come with images of beachgoers, readers draw incorrect conclusions about how the coronavirus spreads.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/beach-photos-confuse-people-about-how-covid-19-spreads/618560/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_term=2021-04-11T10%3A31%3A56&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_source=twitter

Why publications keep using these photos is hard to pinpoint. In a health crisis, many people may feel provoked by the sight of others cavorting in the sun—even though one of the best ways to avoid COVID-19, which spreads easiest when individuals inhale particles exhaled by others, is to avoid public indoor spaces in favor of outdoor spaces. Or perhaps beach pictures, which have a somewhat aspirational quality and typically feature attractive people wearing bathing suits, just draw lots of readers.

Regardless, our research indicates that these news articles with beach photos actually leave some readers with a false sense of which activities are riskiest.


This has been a pet peeve of mine for a while now, along with the endless cleaning and the panic when two fully vaccinated people have lunch together.

[USALiberal]

1. Why does it bother you if other people want to be careful???

[cinematicdiversions]

4. Because it can be counter productive.

When a college requires mask wearing in the park or closes the park, altogether it discourages safe activities.

I am not against being safe, but you can (and will) catch covid on spring break in a bar, hotel room or party bus. Sitting on Miami Beach however, no matter how crowded is much less .,likely., (Same reason BLM protests were never vectors in and of themselves. They were outdoors. )

[Skittles]

7. google pics of BLM protests

for the most part they were outdoors AND masked

[Scrivener7]

10. If you are breathed upon by a person with Covid, you can get Covid, whether you are

inside or outside. So if you are outside and it is likely that you will not be able to maintain the 6 foot distance at all times, a mask is a good idea. Less likely does not mean unlikely, and Covid is not something to play chicken with.

But consider us informed about your pet peeves.

[GusBob]

6. That's kinda the point of the article

Photos of people on beaches with a COVID article leads some to falsely believe that an outdoor activity is more risky than indoors, when it’s the opposite

If one wishes to be careful they should be well informed

[Sneederbunk]

3. People may be confused by the high Covid death rates in beach states.

[Treefrog]

13. High Covid in beach states?

North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan, numerous other land locked states have the highest rates. Hawaii has the lowest.

[milestogo]

5. I thought this was going to be about skin cancer.

[smirkymonkey]

8. That's a scene from "Airplane"

[Dr. Strange]

11. That's a completely different kind of topic, all together!

[newdayneeded]

15. Stop calling me Shirley!!!!111!

[Silent3]

9. Depends on what kind of beach photos you're talking about

In many cases, you would be correct, that pictures are shown of people on crowded beaches as if they indicate risky behavior, when for outdoors conditions these people are actually reasonably safe.

But I've also seen many pictures of spring break students and other beach partiers pressed together into an almost solid mass of bodies. Even outdoors that's dangerous proximity for COVID transmission.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

14. Bingo. And we are kidding ourselves if we think those beach goers are heading home after... we

... getting a little sun. The bars across the street are jam packed.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. And it can also pack out public toilets by the beaches

Even if people bring their own drinks to the beach, they have to be disposed of somewhere.

[jcgoldie]

12. I think those two in the picture are breaking cdc guidelines...

[cinematicdiversions]

17. Looks Like Ontario has fallen into this trap sending police to close playgrounds and parks.

When almost all medical experts universally are saying that is a very bad idea. More interested in the theater of safety rather than the science. It is a shame that our neighbors to the north are unable to learn from our successes.




https://news.yahoo.com/covid-19-ontario-restrictions-police-powers-doug-ford-criticism-icu-vaccine-232801410.html