4 activities you can do safely before a second coronavirus lockdown, and 4 things you should skip

Eat out at your favorite restaurant one last time, as long as you can sit outside, and far, far away from other diners.

Eating outdoors at restaurants is a relatively low-risk activity, because there's plenty of space for the coronavirus to dissipate into the air. Just make sure the tables are spaced well apart.

Virginia Tech Professor Linsey Marr, a leading coronavirus expert who studies how viruses circulate in the atmosphere, recently told Insider she's only comfortable frequenting outdoor eateries where there's a nice breeze, "it's uncrowded, and no one is any closer than 10 feet away."

While dining outside is relatively safe, eating indoors at a restaurant is ill-advised during the pandemic, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, because it forces you into an enclosed space where crowding and ventilation can both be a problem.

A June article in the medical journal JAMA about making decisions during the pandemic suggested that running, biking, and camping are low-risk activities because they don't involve enclosed spaces, crowds, or close contact, and it's not typically hard to social distance, Insider previously reported.

Walking in a park can be a little riskier because of the possibility of crowds and close contact, but if you keep a safe distance from others while out and about, and don't sing or scream in people's faces, it's generally safe to get some fresh air.

Coupling up before another potential lockdown might sound like a good idea, but going on dates with new people is a high-risk activity, as New York City council member and health chair Mark Levine recently pointed out in a graphic he designed to help people better understand risk during the pandemic.

"An outdoor, socially-distanced date is relatively safe," Levine's graphic says, "but advancing to intimate contact carries real risk."

If you do go out with someone new, have a brief, outdoor, socially-distanced date without close physical contact.

If you want to see your friends again before a second lockdown, consider an outdoor picnic.

This is a low-to-medium risk activity, Levine suggested, as long as you stay six feet apart from others, wear masks, keep the group small, and don't share food.

Sharing food is a very easy way to get someone else's coronavirus, per a recent Lancet Infectious Diseases study.

During the pandemic, getting your hair cut is a medium-risk activity, but the risks of infection can be reduced if both hairdressers and clients wear masks at all times.

If you do go to a salon, wear a mask, keep your visit short (skip the blow-dry), and make sure all employees are wearing PPE, maintaining safe distances, and washing their hands frequently.

Take-out and delivery are the safest ways to eat out during the pandemic, per the CDC.

Aside from minimizing physical contact, this is relatively safe because it's so unlikely that the virus could spread through food, Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University, previously told Insider.

"It's so unlikely that there isn't a single scientist, I think, anywhere in the world that's investigating potential foodborne transmission of COVID-19," Schaffner said.

The act of flying itself is not that dangerous (especially if everyone on board is wearing a mask) because of the high-tech air filtration systems installed on modern airplanes, far better than what's in most homes.

But traveling by plane exposes you to many other risks: crowds at airports, lots of high-touch surfaces, and prolonged contact with other people indoors, who may not all be wearing their masks.

That's why infection control experts have labeled it as a high-risk activity during the pandemic: like going to a bar, playing contact sports, heading to an indoor concert, or going to church, it carries many risks, and may provide many opportunities for you to catch the coronavirus.

• Read more:
• The riskiest activities linked to COVID-19 infection, from sharing a car to having a 30-minute conversation
• How risky daily activities are during the coronavirus pandemic, ranked from safest to most dangerous
• 3 color-coded charts illustrate the relative coronavirus risks built into activities you might do each day
• Hairstylists have one of the most dangerous jobs during the pandemic. One NYC stylist shares the drastic changes she's had to make to keep working.