This is a bit unfair. Many people socialized with the bowling team, through their church, at school, as part of a volunteer organization, etc, that may have also all shut down because of COVID.
This is a discussion about socializing. A hike and a hiking group are different things. BTW, need to find a hiking group post COVID, that sounds like fun.
But a hiking group primarily socializes while hiking. A small group, social distancing outside is a very low risk activity that should allowed in most of the world outside periods of strict lockdowns.
Maybe in the OP’s case it’s the kind of thing where you take a group bus to a trail, and that’s the problem.
The hiking group I normally lead for is having some trips but relatively few and nothing overnight. And, frankly, between the hassles and responsibility associated with leading right now (and following a bunch of protocols), carpooling problems, and just general concerns with being in a group of largely strangers, it's more trouble than it's worth. I have been hiking a couple of times with a few friends/friends of friends but mostly it's more comfortable to just go by myself.
Hiking trails near me are STILL closed due to the virus. For a while it was only open during weekdays and by appointment only. Now they've been flat out closed for a few months. Sure, I could drive half an hour to a completely open trail, but if I'm going to burn that much gas all the time I might as well start working in an office again.
It’s completely insane that your location decided to close all the trails. We took a 4,000 mile hiking road trip (up the east coast of the US and back down more inland) a few months ago and we never ran into a closed hiking trail.
I've seen parking closed or limited here and there. And some Mass Audubon properties, for example, may still be by appointment only. But, yes, in general I'm not aware of general trail closures in the Northeast.
Surely you can still be involved in outdoor groups without issue? I participate in an advanced dog training/sport group, and we still meet and just take the necessary precautions (work outdoors, social distance, wear masks).
However many people also are incapable of going this route and work is their own socialization. Never underestimate the number of introverts who only have "friends" through work.
Thirty years later I still have friends from school who I swear have no other friends other than those from school days or their current job. Some don't even know their neighbors!
The difficult part is they look just like the rest of us and the cues are different for determining who is who though usually avoidance of after work get together and even lunch are clear sign. The key is to know when to back off as some are very comfortable in their personal world
There is no judgement in my comment for it to be fair or unfair. I guess the word you're looking for is "incomplete", in which case, it absolutely is incomplete for brevity.
My point was on this particular shortcut in many articles including large publications:
A: I work at the office
B: I'm not lonely
Not A => Not B (I don't work at the office therefore I'm lonely), and then coming up with a solution that it's time to get back to the office, failing to respect the contraposition, and implying that there's equivalence with a hidden B ==> A implication that is not necessary true.
Your point does not contradict my comment, actually, because all these are outside of "work/office". Again, my point was about the equivalence between remote work and loneliness not being automatic. One way to go through that is having a social life outside of the office. Granted, many things have closed, but that's why I said it was a sign of what the person could try and improve (finding things that haven't closed, finding joy somewhere else). Not saying it's easy.
But you did say that if you're lonely it's because you've not got enough of a social life outside of work. You can have an active social life outside of work and still feel lonely at work due to WFH. That's what you said that was unfair.
