Physical Activity During the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic: Prevention of a Decline in Metabolic and Immunological Functions

Introduction:
As of 30th January 2020, the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease, later called COVID-19, was declared a Public Health Emergency (World Health Organization, 2020b) and on the 11th of March 2020, COVID-19 was characterized as a pandemic (World Health Organization, 2020d). On April 20th 2020, WHO reported 2,314,621 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and a total of 157,847 deaths from all regions of the world (World Health Organization, 2020a).

Governments’ immediate protective measurements aim to slow down the ongoing spread of the COVID-19 disease. Restrictions include full or partial lockdowns of cities, travel bans, restricted social gatherings, and closed borders and schools. Half of humanity is currently directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (The New York Times, 2020), with uncertain final consequences. Likely, our daily life with physical activity (PA) will be impaired for months, affecting the health of a significant portion of society. A significant decline in steps taken assessed by activity tracker users has already been shown (Fitbit, 2020).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2020.00057

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Physical Activity During the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic: Prevention of a Decline in Metabolic and Immunological Functions