What's riskier: seeing a movie or air travel? Texas Medical Association chart provides answers

Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, many Austinites still have questions about the relative risk of different activities. Is it safe yet to see a movie, travel by plane, send one's children back to school, book a hotel stay or play tennis?

The aforementioned activities are listed in descending order of riskiness, according to a chart created by members of the Texas Medical Association's COVID-19 task force and committee on infectious disease earlier this summer.

The Texas Medical Association released a chart organizing activities by the level of COVID-19 risk they pose to participants. (Texas Medical Association)

Physicians provided input on a variety of activities, working from the assumption that participants would take as many safety precautions as possible in any given situation.

Low- to moderate-risk activities include camping, visiting the doctor and returning to work at an office building, according to the chart. Eating inside at a restaurant, playing football, hugging a friend and working out at a gym are higher risk.

Under current state orders, most businesses are allowed to be open, if at limited capacity. In late June, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott increased restaurant capacity limits to 75%.

But bars and other operations that earn more than 51% of their total revenue from alcohol sales must remain closed—for now.

Abbott tweeted on Monday that he "hope[s] to provide updates next week about next steps" regarding state orders.

City of Austin and Travis County orders, meanwhile, continue to prohibit gatherings of more than 10 people and requires people to wear a mask when they are in an outdoor public space and unable to social distance.