The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has some recommendations on ways to safely celebrate holiday traditions and celebrations and protect your health. The focus is on preventing the spread of COVID-19 (and variants of it).
Why is the CDC making these recommendations? According to the CDC, it is because many generations tend to gather to celebrate holidays, the best way to minimize COVID-19 risk and keep your family and friends safer is to get vaccinated if you are eligible.
Here are some safer ways to celebrate the holidays:
Protect those not yet eligible for vaccination such as young children by getting yourself and other eligible people around them vaccinated.
Wear well-fitting masks over your nose and mouth if you are in public indoor settings if you are not fully vaccinated. Even those who are fully vaccinated should wear a mask in public indoor settings in communities with substantial to high transmissions.
Outdoors is safer than indoors. Avoid crowded, poorly ventilated spaces.
If you are sick or have symptoms, don’t host or attend a gathering.
Get tested if you have symptoms of COVID-19 or have a close contact with someone who has COVID-19.
The CDC recommends delaying travel until you are fully vaccinated. If you are not fully vaccinated and must travel, follow CDC’s domestic travel or international travel recommendations for unvaccinated people.
If you will be traveling in a group or family with unvaccinated people, chose safer travel options. Those options include: staying in contact with just members of your household, and to make contact only with fully vaccinated people. Avoid crowds.
The CDC says it is safer to bring your own foods and drinks with you when you travel. Getting takeout is also safer than dining in a restaurant.
Wear a mask over your nose and mouth. It is required – of those vaccinated and unvaccinated – on planes, busses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States and while indoors at U.S. transportation hubs such as airports and stations.
People who have a condition or are taking medications that weaken their immune system may not be fully protected even if they are fully vaccinated and have received an additional dose. They should continue to take all precautions recommended for vaccinated people, including wearing a well-fitted mask, until advised otherwise by their healthcare provider.
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