Help us get our exercise, Ottawa
Re: Distance-conscious walkers get space, April 8.
I applaud Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper’s leadership in blocking off part of Byron Avenue to allow citizens to get some exercise while maintaining physical distance from each other. Dr. Anthony Fauci (head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) has indicated that three conditions associated with poor outcomes among those infected with COVID -19 in the United States are obesity, diabetes and hypertension. All of these conditions are associated with physical inactivity. It is time for the province to change its recommendation from “Stay at home” to “Stay at home except to exercise.”
We must remember that flattening the curve by itself does not decrease the number of people who will become infected; it simply delays the onset of the infection so that our health care system can cope with it. Until we have a vaccine or effective treatment, models show repeated waves will occur until enough of the population has been infected to create herd immunity. Physical distancing is critical as we must assume everyone we meet on the street is infected and indeed that each of us is infected.
However, exercise while physical distancing is vital to ensure that we do not develop these co-morbidities that will decrease our chances of surviving COVID -19 infection at a later date.
Facilitating exercise with physical distancing is something that municipal government can promote. The newest sidewalks are at most two metres wide, which requires people passing to veer off the sidewalk to maintain a safe distance. As the weather improves and more people exercise outside — and given the closure of city parks except for walkthroughs — this will become problematic, especially in denser neighbourhoods.
It is time for the mayor, Ottawa Council, and the NCC to take aggressive action to make it easier for people to exercise while maintaining physical distance. People need room to spread out.
There are many four-lane roads that no longer need all those lanes for cars. Two lanes of parkways should be blocked off for the use of pedestrians and cyclists. These temporary changes will cost money but we must remember that this is a public health emergency. Jeff Whitehead, Ottawa, retired public health physician Why can’t we close routes to traffic now?
Every year, the NCC creates a set of routes which are closed on Sunday mornings in the summer. What is the problem with doing this now that there has been such a decline in normal road traffic?
Brian Tansey, Ottawa