Let’s start with the low-hanging fruit: eliminating all the bad habits we never should have had in the first place. No walking in the middle of the sidewalk. No strolling with your face glued to your phone. No spitting!

Additionally, do whatever it takes to stay six feet away from people on the sidewalk. Most of us are used to walking on the sidewalk in a straight line, occasionally moving a few inches left or right to accommodate a passing runner or a kid on a scooter. Now, when we prepare to pass someone, we need to be moving feet, not inches, away. That requires more drastic measures: getting off the sidewalk entirely to walk on the grass or in the street (assuming traffic isn’t heavy), crossing to the other side of the street, sometimes even stopping and turning around to walk in the opposite direction.

And when walking in a group (only people in your household, please!), be ready to shift to single file quickly. It’s lovely that this moment of schools and offices being closed allows us to spend more time with the people we live with — including going on walks together. But our habits for walking in groups need to change. It’s impossible to stay six feet away from a group walking side by side on a sidewalk or even a broader walking path. The only way to stay safe is for the group to walk in single file when someone is approaching.

Don’t ride your bike on the sidewalk. This is an often-ignored law in many cities, but at this moment it becomes essential to follow. There is simply no way to stay six feet away from a cyclist sharing a sidewalk — bikes take up a lot more space than pedestrians, runners or even people on scooters. Cyclists must ride in bike lanes, or stay on wider paths.

Consider doing your outdoor time in the early morning or late evening. That argument during my run was an eye-opener for me: I could keep running during peak hours, at the risk of my own sanity and civility. Or I could set my alarm earlier and run before dawn, when most neighbors are still asleep. I chose the latter. It is painful to lose the extra sleep, but the relaxed, uncrowded run is worth it.

We’re all in this together. I used to think of myself as a runner, annoyed at reckless bikers, or a pedestrian, enraged by crazy drivers. But in this moment, we have to stop dividing ourselves based on our preferred transit mode and instead remember that we’re all people who want to hold onto precious time outdoors.

Runners, before you dart out into the street to avoid a coming pedestrian, check to make sure there are no bikers nearby. Drivers, if you see a pedestrian crossing in the middle of the street, resist the urge to honk and yell — just tap the brakes and remember that in a few hours, you might be that pedestrian, trying to get some fresh air before returning to your home-turned-office-turned-school.

A lot of these changes will feel strange and even awkward. We go outside to lose ourselves in the moment, and it’s hard to always be on alert. If we usually nod and wave to other runners, it may feel rude to run to the other side of the street to avoid them. But if we want to avoid spreading illness while we enjoy the outdoors, we have to live with some discomfort and social weirdness.

Eleanor Barkhorn (@eleanorbarkhorn) is a staff editor in Opinion.

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