Biker395 

Does anybody know of anyone who has caught COVID riding in a group?

MinnMan

Yeah, I've wondered hard about that. Would like some good info.

caloso

Same. It would be nice to see if there was any data. I would guess not, since the numbers would be so small.

pbass

Pretty hard to confirm I'd imagine. I had it. Could have been from several situations that I suspect, or simply from the damn grocery store--who knows? Even if it's certain someone in the group had it, how could you prove that was the source, unless you've totally quarantined except for that ride?

MinnMan

This isn't the place for a political discussion, but if the situation here were not so f'ed up, we would be doing more comprehensive contact tracing, where all of a case's points of contact are located. Some places (Germany, some of the asian countries) do an excellent job with this. other places, not so much. They don't succeed in locating all of the transmissions, but they do succeed with many.

Mojo31

How would you know?

pbass

Spot on.

Carbonfiberboy 

I already said what I'm not doing. What my wife and I are doing is riding indoors, my on my resistance rollers, she on her trainer, almost every day for an hour. During that hour, we're working on seeing how many watts we can hold steady for the last 45' of it and not get any HR drift during the last 1/2 hour of it. Having used many fancy training plans over the years with a different workout every day, I'm simply astonished at how well this stupid simple routine is working. We're going to do just this until January. I'm always a sucker for another experiment on whatever, from sourdough bread to soup to cycling. I hope this can hold my interest that long. My goal is to gradually increase the time by then to 2 hours, 4 or 5 days/week. I doubt it, but maybe. That's supposed to hold my interest, in my leg pain if nothing else.

DeceptivelySlow

Thanks for posting that; good real world reminder to not let my guard down. Glad you are on the recovery side of the equation.

Due to health problems which I finally got under control, I have not cycled with anyone else in well over 5 years. Ironically, I had planned to start riding with friends again this year but... Oh well, sticking with solo now; at least I am very used to it.

10 Wheels

Dang

PoorInRichfield

LOL! Nope, you and I are the only two I think My wife has a lung condition and I can't afford to get sick and thus get her sick.

I live in a county where pretty much everyone I talk to has the attitude that COVID isn't real and they mock people who don't think the same. I, however, have learned that no one cares more about my health than I do, so despite peer pressure, it's up to me to make wise choices regarding my health. It's up to me to determine what level of risk I'm going to take. I understand those who feel there is little risk and are group riding and the like, I just ask that those same people understand that not everyone can take that kind of risk.

pbass

Oh, it's real all right. I had a mild version as I mention and even that was still no bueno. Still have "something" that comes and goes in my chest 4 mos. out (fortunately doesn't get worse with exercise or slow me down--it's just a weird intermittent "feeling"). But I know of others far worse off. Previously extremely healthy active people, some far younger than me.

Biker395 

They can do it with contact tracing. Someone gets ill, and they are asked about everyone they had contact with ... those people are contacted, and so on. As long as it is a group ride with people you know, they should be able to do it.

Supposedly, we in California have an "army" of contact tracers doing their job. I'm not sure about the extent of what they are doing, nor have I heard any interesting data from such tracing. I was just curious because there is a lot of speculation about what is truly dangerous and what is not, and contact tracing is the only real way to know.

Riding around lately, I would say that most people are riding in groups again. I had a group of 12 or so pass me this AM, and saw people grouped together pretty much as usual.

Biker395 

I presume they would tell you. I have a non-cyclist friend who had COVID back in January (he has no idea how or where he caught it), and another cycling friend who caught it working in healthcare.

Biker395 

Cripes. So much variance in how COVID affects people. One friend (my age) told me it was like a nasty flu, that made him very tired and took away his sense of taste and smell. No fever. No congestion. Another's 27 year old son nearly died from it.

I know a lot of people who are pretty cavalier about it ... assuming that because they are in good shape, they have nothing to worry about. That's not me. I'd rather not roll that dice.

Iride01 

Regularly riding with 15 to 20 people as you said your group has expanded to will be troubling for me too. Are they breaking up into smaller groups when actually riding? Or is everyone staying together?

If there were smaller groups of 3 to maybe 5 riders that kept regular close contact only among themselves for every ride, it seems that I might consider going for regular group rides. Even if the different groups passed each other during the ride occasionally, I'd not fret too much. In general though, I'd feel safe if those smaller groups kept about a 100 feet or so between them and the other groups. Which is only about 3 seconds for a experience group and maybe 4 or 5 for a slower group.

bruce19

How would we know where someone was infected? My gut reaction is that group riding is a relatively safe thing to do but I cannot deny that when you're riding behind someone you are riding into their exhalations.

Mojo31

Even if you are around someone with it, there is no way to track whether you got it from that person or through some other means. The people I know who have contracted the virus have no idea of when, where, from whom or from what they contracted it.

pbass

I would think that the "viral load" you'd get from one single contagious rider in front of you would in theory be pretty small, but there are all the studies now about how the aerosols hang in the air quite a lot longer than they first thought. And a group? Not out of the realm of possibility there could be more than one asymptomatic rider whose slipstream you're riding in, I suppose. Either way, this thing is crazy--cases range from no symptoms at all to death, and everything in between. So, better safe than sorry.

Biker395 

Myself as well.

But it is not true that there is no way to track where you contracted the virus. They CAN by contact tracing. They cannot prove without any doubt where you caught the virus, but they can make an intelligent guess by when you were in contact and when you became ill.

It's what they did with the study in a Wuhan restaurant (one of the reasons I am not dining in, regardless of where or when it is legal):

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/7/20-0764_article

They did it on this airline flight:

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26...99_article#r37

I would think that if you rode with the same say ... 10 people ... in a cycling group and you came down with COVID, those people would be contacted and you would know if they also got infected (presumably from you, depending on the infection dynamics ... it could have been from someone else). Or heck ... if they are your friends you were riding with, wouldn't they tell you if they've been infected in that interval? Wouldn't you call them to tell them you were apparently infectious when you were riding with them?

Mojo31

I agree that you can do contact tracing, but it does not answer the question definitively unless you can otherwise conclusively rule out other sources.

I would hope friends would shoot straight with each other.

MinnMan

contact tracing works best in an environment where the infection rate is low and the resources are high. Arizona in July 2020? Forget about it. South Korea in July, 2020? - it could be done nearly conclusively. Your state or mine right now? Hard to say. It would be good if we lived in Vermont, where they are averaging a handful of cases a day, and where 96% of new cases speak with contact tracers within 24 hours of a positive test result

In conclusion, whether you can or cannot do contact tracing is situation-specific.

nesdog

FWIW, I've been doing a virtual fundraiser since July that has helped to keep my interest even while riding solo. I just completed the Tahoe to Malibu version (700 miles) and joined this one today.

https://www.blueridgetobeach.com/Rac...ueRidgetoBeach

Some are doing this on trainers, Peloton bikes, etc. We still have good weather so I'm picking up my miles bike, swim and hikes/walks.

Biker395 

What do you think of the cellphone based contact tracing apps? They were supposed to be available soon, but I haven't seen one yet. The technology is pretty sweet, and that should certainly help. It's my understanding that similar programs are being used in China and elsewhere.

MinnMan

Yeah, they haven't had much of a presence in the US. I don't know, really. I suspect that to work, they'd need a big PR push from public/private partnerships to get enough adoption to be effective. Tech companies partnering with cell carriers partnering with state public health orgs and health care networks, etc.

We're migrating too far from the topic, though. My fault, in part.