Hikers enjoy the sunny weather on the Dragon’s Back trail in Shek O. Photo: SCMP / Dickson Lee
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https://scmp.com/sport/outdoor/health-fitness/article/3171639/coronavirus-hku-expert-questions-need-people-wear Health & Fitness
Coronavirus: HKU expert questions need for people to wear masks while hiking, as city prepares to relax social distancing
- Professor Ben Cowling argues risk of transmitting Covid-19 when exercising in country parks is very low
- But some government advisers have advocated for double masks, and believe there is not enough evidence to drop mandate
Hikers making the trek from Quarry Bay to Tai Tam country park. Photo: SCMP / Xiaomei Chen
The move to relax public health measures in Hong Kong means masks should no longer be mandatory while exercising outdoors, especially when it comes to hiking in country parks, according to an epidemiologist who has often publicly disagreed with government policy.
Professor Ben Cowling, head of the division of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Hong Kong, said considering the green spaces in the city as being “high risk” was “inconceivable”. He rated country parks as being at the “lowest of low-risk settings”.
His approach clashes with that of other top experts advising the government who have instead recommended wearing double masks, but comes as Singapore plans to drop mandatory wearing of masks while outdoors.
Respiratory expert Dr Leung Chi-chiu said he considered country parks to be more dangerous to residents overall than people gathered in restaurants.
“Even if you want to meet your friends [at a restaurant instead], it is still a table of two,” Leung said. “You might be posing more of a risk to your friend, but you are posing less of a risk to hundreds of passers-by. From a public health perspective, you are not increasing the risk.”
At present, Hongkongers have to wear masks when exercising outdoors, be that running on the road, or hiking along one of the city’s many trails. While Covid-19 restrictions will ease in stages from April 21, the removal of the requirement to wear a mask while hiking or running is not expected to be removed until the second phase.
Tung Yeung Shan is another popular spot for Hong Kong’s many hiking enthusiasts. SCMP / Dickson Lee
“It’s inconceivable that [the country park’s are] high risk,” Cowling said. “I wouldn’t say it’s zero, because who knows. But I would say there are minimal risks in the outdoors in general, and country parks would be the lowest of low-risk settings.
“In the past, when there was a zero-Covid strategy, I can understand the government’s rationale of looking at every possible risk and trying to minimise that risk.
“But now there seems to be a new policy of trying to relax the public health measures over the coming two to three months, I think there is very little justification of mandatory masks outdoors in general and in particular in country parks.”
Cowling said he would never recommend against someone wearing a mask if they wanted to. But he thought a sensible easing would be to have mandatory masks on public transports and government buildings, recommended masks in other areas and not even recommending, let-alone mandating, masks in the countryside.
Cowling said there was a growing belief in the wider scientific community that the risk of transmission outdoors was very low. This is based on studies showing that UV light from the sun kills the virus, the wind spreads the load density, and when it comes to hiking the space means people are not close to each other for long, if at all.
But Leung does not believe this can be applied to Hong Kong. Firstly, because the way Covid-19 specimens are collected for the studies makes the evidence inconclusive when being judged against conditions found in country parks.
And while UV light may kill the virus in one instance, it may not in another, said Leung, adding scientists could not be “100 per cent certain how long it [the virus] survives”.
Country parks in that instance could then become especially dangerous, because of the potentially limitless amount of contact with other people.
Hikers flock to Lau Shui Heung Reservoir, one of the most popular hiking trails in Hong Kong, as Omicron outbreaks hit the city. Photo: SCMP
Leung suggested that if exercising while wearing a mask was uncomfortable, people should lower the intensity of their workouts.
“We are not asking for something for the rest of your life, just during the peak of the epidemic everyone needs to try their best, not only to protect themselves but to protect others,” he said.
Cowling said given the fact the city was past the worst of the fifth wave, masks could come off in certain circumstances because there was “no chance there could be a major resurgence given so much of the population has been infected”.