People at the highest risk for the 2019-nCoV coronavirus are the elderly. Runners who are training normally don’t have to worry any more than the average person, but Nieman points out that runners who have just finished a long race, such as a half-marathon or marathon, are at a higher risk.
“In general, for runners who are going through their normal training —and not overtraining— the training program enhances the ability of the immune system to detect and deal with pathogens. Runners are, in fact, less likely to get ill with an upper respiratory tract infection like coronavirus,” Nieman said.
Runners—and others who exercise regularly—are generally less likely to get sick with these types of infections than people who aren’t active, Nieman added. The exception? Those who are overtraining or who have just completed a race.
“When you get to the high end of training and/or a postrace situation, then you are more vulnerable to infection,” he said. “For example, after a marathon, runners are six times more likely to get ill with a respiratory infection than in people who didn’t race, because in a race you will always push harder than you would in training. This causes a lot of stress to your immune system, which increases your risk of coming down with an infection in the coming weeks.”