This story contains information that is out of date in some jurisdictions. To further encourage social distancing, some cities have now closed playgrounds and park amenities. For our latest coronavirus coverage check here.

Question: Can I send my child to the local playground?

The short answer is no. Unless you are guaranteed there will be no other kids there. But, even then, it’s likely not the safest choice because it’s believed the coronavirus can survive for hours, even days, on some surfaces such as plastic and steel.

“Kids and adults should be practising social distancing and that means that we should not be with other people outside of the people that live in your home. Period,” says Toronto pediatrician Dr. Dina Kulik.

“If a playground is completely empty, sure your kids can play there but with the caveat that they wash their hands well, before and after, and they don’t touch their face and they stay away from other people.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website that “it may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it.”

While we are still learning the risk levels of that form of transfer, Kulik — who works as an Emergency Medicine physician at The Hospital for Sick Children, stresses caution, particularly since many who have COVID-19 are asymptomatic, especially kids.

“A parent who thinks their child is completely well, takes their kid to the playground. (That child actually has) COVID and they shed it by droplets on to those surfaces,” says Kulik, who has her own website, drdina.ca

“The next kid comes, touches that swing, and then touches their mouth inadvertently or sucks their thumb and now that child was just infected. They also have no symptoms, or maybe they will have symptoms, but that person may now have COVID and pass it on to their friends and their family and, in particular, grandparents who have the highest morbidity and mortality rate in all of this.”

Craig Janes is the director of the School of Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo. He is also a grandfather. And he’d be very wary of letting those grandchildren go to a playground.

“I don’t think it would be problem to take your child to the playground as long as you can observe the social distancing protocols, but that’s tough. Kids like to run around and they like to play with one another. I guess the simple answer is probably no,” he says.

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“I just got off a webinar with some folks at Johns Hopkins (University in Baltimore) and it appears that there may be more pediatric cases than we originally thought. We tend to focus on the elderly and it could very well be that kids may not get very sick but they can shed the virus and communicate it to other kids and they can bring it home and communicate it their parents or their grandparents.”

Toronto Public Health spokesperson Dr. Michael Finkelstein, said in an email that “while we recommend that people continue to enjoy the outdoors and be physically active, we recommend parents and caregivers keep children away from group settings including playdates with other children.”

TPH’s Associate Medical Officer of Health and Director, Communicable Disease Control, also stressed the importance of keeping children two metres apart and keeping them home if they are sick. Parents, he notes, should also encourage kids to greet others with a wave, a bow or a nod rather that a hug or handshake. And practise proper handwashing.