Outdoor cycling activity affected by COVID-19 related epidemic-control-decisions
| Autor: | Schweizer, Anne-Maria, Leiderer, Anna, Mitterwallner, Veronika, Walentowitz, Anna, Mathes, Gregor H., Steinbauer, Manuel |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Rural Population
Viral Diseases Urban Population Epidemiology Parks Recreational Social Sciences Geographical locations Medical Conditions Germany Medicine and Health Sciences Psychology Public and Occupational Health Geographic Areas Geography Sports Science Europe Infectious Diseases Medicine Research Article Sports Urban Areas Science Human Geography Urban Geography Humans European Union Cities Exercise Pandemics Behavior COVID-19 Biology and Life Sciences Covid 19 Physical Activity Rural Areas Bicycling Communicable Disease Control Earth Sciences Recreation People and places |
| Zdroj: | e0249268 PLOS ONE PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 5, p e0249268 (2021) PLoS ONE |
| Popis: | AimThe lockdown of sports infrastructure due to the COVID-19 pandemic has substantially shifted people's physical activity towards public green spaces. With Germany's lockdown as one of the more severe governmentally imposed epidemic-control-decisions, we tested to what extent the frequency of outdoor cycling activities changed from March to June 2020.MethodsUser behaviour and frequency in 15 urban and 7 rural German public green spaces was quantified using cycling data from the fitness application Strava. Changes in cycling activities were analysed with four different generalised linear models, correcting for factors like weather conditions and temporal changes in the user base of the fitness application.ResultsWe found a clear increase in outdoor cycling sport activities in urban public green spaces in response to epidemic-control decisions (e.g. increase by 81% in April relative to the expected value (95% CI [48%, 110%])). In contrast, biking in rural areas showed no significant change with epidemic-control-decisions in place.ConclusionFitness App data, e.g. from Strava, can be used to monitor visitor behaviour and frequency. The increase in outdoor cycling activities during epidemic control decisions likely reflects a shift of sport activities from indoor and team sports to outdoor and individual sports. This highlights the importance of accessible green space for maintaining physical fitness and health. Beyond this shift, it is likely that outdoor activities may be of particularly importance for stress relief in times of crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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