What kinds of activities outside the home is it safe to engage in? Here are two useful resources for assessing the risks for yourself: one a survey of four epidemiologists, and the other the collective opinions of 511 epidemiologists.

1. Mlive Media in Michigan interviewed four public health experts, asking them to rank on a scale of 1 to 10 the relative safety of 36 everyday activities, with a ranking of 10 being the riskiest. The media outlet then averaged the four replies for each activity and rounded to the nearest integer.

I have recast the results into what I hope is a more useful and shareable form (see table at bottom).

Follow the link above to read the experts’ comments on their risk assessments. I found it interesting that the greatest spread of opinion manifested on the subjects of airline travel and visiting a dentist. Two of the doctors rated air travel as a medium risk, one low, and one high. For the dentist, two judged the risk low, one medium, and one high. The other activities generally elicited closer agreement.

2. The NYTimes ran a piece yesterday called When 511 Epidemiologists Expect to Fly, Hug and Do 18 Other Everyday Activities Again. It is finer-grained than the Mlive survey, which is summarized below. Visit the Times link for the chapter and verse of what the experts are willing to do now, and what they expect never to do again.