ST. LOUIS — There's a sense of security in events and gatherings outside, but doctors say we should not be ranking our risks based on indoors versus outdoors.
"It's almost like before you do a party or a gathering, you need a CV or resume to say where they've been at and all that," said Dr. Alex Lacasse, an Infectious Disease Specialist at SSM Health.
For Dr. Lacasse, it's all about who you are with instead of where you are or even what you are doing.
"People say, well, we're going to maintain social distancing. You know, it's really, really difficult to do," he added.
Lacasse said when you put yourself in certain predicaments you are at the risk of others' poor behavior. Those situations include pool parties, barbecues, eating at a restaurant or attending an outdoor event.
"I consider high risk whenever there's close proximity outdoors or indoors," explained Dr. Lacasse. "People have to refocus and stay out of, 'Outdoors is better than indoors or indoors is worse', but really focus on the ability to exercise social distancing within that space whether it's outdoors or indoors. And that's where the key is."
As far as traveling goes, Dr. Lacasse said you must be aware of where you are visiting. He said when you travel, you may not be aware of the number of cases or where cases are concentrated.
"It's uncontrolled," he said.
Dr. Lacasse gets the feeling of being cooped up and wanting to get out, but in order to do that safely, we all have to take care of one another.
"We have to be good citizens and to be good citizens right now means that we have to be extremely, extremely cautious about social distancing. We have to flatten the curve, the disease is not gone away," he said.