There is more to coping than masking, distancing, and handwashing.
Yes. It’s a dilemma. What’s best for your family? Choose (a) or (b):
(a) The safest place in a COVID pandemic is indoors. Venture out only when absolutely necessary, says the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
(b) Spending time outdoors is especially important for children as the COVID pandemic disrupts the structure traditionally supplied by summer activities, says the American Academy of Pediatrics.

My choice? (b).
1. It’s time to consider lifting some restrictions. As of this writing (mid-July 2020), relatively few children have been tested for COVID 19. Therefore, there are few definitive answers. However, evidence is mounting that when compared to adults, children are far less likely to become ill when exposed to the virus, have milder cases, are less likely to transmit the disease to others and are less likely to be asymptomatic carriers. Children appear less likely than adults to be the first case within a household. Little is known as to whether children with underlying, ongoing illnesses need specific protection.

4. Social isolation of children tends to cause family friction. (Physical isolation would be a better term for isolation. Social isolation is what you do not want.
The absence of playmates often results in moody and argumentative children with frequent angry outbursts. Children fear that adults close to them may die. Parents become short-tempered. Parents begin arguing among themselves, worsening the cycle. Adult disputes are best kept from children.

6. Get children out of the house. Children need physical and mental activity to stay in shape. Most indoor activities are eventually “boring,” involve little or no movement and are often associated with eating – generally foods high in salt and calories. Children are more active outdoors and less likely to dwell on the predicaments that COVID has brought them. Plan moderately strenuous activities — brisk walking, biking, sports that allow for distancing or just “running around.”
7. “Green” outdoors may be the most therapeutic outdoors. Spending time surrounded by trees, grass and plants seems to be superior to being amid buildings, concrete and traffic, with wilderness the ultimate outdoors. Family picnics may be the perfect antidotes for a COVID-spoiled summer: getting outdoors, having fun, exercising, distancing from other people, and bonding the family.

9. To hug or not to hug young children? Hugging has benefits beyond expressing affection. It may physically lower levels of anxiety and promote feelings that people care for you. Young children accustomed to being hugged, especially by grandparents, may interpret the absence of hugs as abandonment or punishment. Under ideal conditions the risk of infection from a hug are minimal. Ideal conditions include short hugs, wearing masks, no obvious COVID infection-type symptoms, no chronic illnesses, and not living in a COVID “hot spot.” Children under two years of age should not wear masks but almost never become infected. Kissing is a no-no.
10. Playdates may be a beneficial first step in “opening up” social integration. “Opening up” society and the economy are key words today. It’s being done with restaurants, nail salons and gyms. Is it 100% safe? Probably not. But neither are trips to the playground (US emergency rooms annually treat about 200,000 children ages 14 and younger with playground-related injuries, some serious). Outdoor play dates are safer than indoor ones. And schedule playdates with one other child at a time. Choose a child from a family whose lifestyle you are familiar and comfortable with.
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