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The New York Times
How to safely celebrate spring break with your family
The weather is warming up, the days are shaping up to be brighter and the number of people getting vaccinated is increasing. So can we finally celebrate Spring Break together like before, when we could see the bottom half of everyone’s faces? Well, not exactly. Although coronavirus cases and deaths are declining across the country, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released new, more flexible safety guidelines for those vaccinated, the agency recommended not to meet at the Unmasked indoors with unvaccinated people, except in certain circumstances. Sign up for The Morning New York Times newsletter We asked public health experts to help us understand the latest guidance and offer tips on how to safely observe upcoming vacations such as as Easter, Passover and Ramadan. Do we need to wear masks and stay 6 feet apart? According to the CDC, if the people in your household have been fully immunized, which means at least two weeks have passed since each person’s last shot, you can spend unmasked time together with unvaccinated limbs. ‘another household – inside or outside – without physical distancing. But that is only true if all unvaccinated people are not at increased risk of serious illness if they contract COVID-19, the agency said. The risk of transmission from a vaccinated household to an unvaccinated household “is incredibly low,” said Dr. Joshua Barocas, infectious disease physician at Boston Medical Center. And when both households are vaccinated, the risk is even lower, he added. Erica Fleischer, 42, a public policy expert and mother of two who lives in Chicago, said her family typically celebrated the Passover seder on the first two nights of the eight-day vacation at her in-laws’ home. , surrounded by up to 20 people. Last year they met virtually, but this year, given new directions from the CDC, her unvaccinated family will have a small dinner with her in-laws, who have each received the vaccine. Fleischer said she felt “fairly confident” that the risks of infecting each other are low. “I think I needed more conviction than my in-laws.” Dr Shaun Din, 35, a radiation oncologist in Manhattan, plans to spend part of the holy month of Ramadan with family members nearby. Five of the eight adults, including Din and his parents, have been vaccinated, so the family feels comfortable getting together unmasked on weekends for the evening iftars that break each day of the fast. “The past year has been very lonely, not being able to celebrate together,” Din said. “Ramadan is tough, but the community aspect of all of us going through it and breaking the fast together is a lot of fun.” Can we invite more than one household? If you’re fully vaccinated and want to invite other fully vaccinated friends over to dinner, the CDC says “it’s probably a low risk” and there’s no need to wear masks or stay physically away. . Even so, keep the meeting small. The CDC does not recommend medium or large gatherings, although it has not defined what constitutes medium or large. “Variants are circulating and vaccines might not be as effective against them,” said Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech who studies viruses in the air. If you plan to mix unvaccinated people from multiple households, experts suggest holding the gathering outside, staying 6 feet apart, and wearing masks. And if you decide to spend time indoors with unvaccinated people from other households, wear a mask and open the windows to improve ventilation, said Shelly Miller, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, who studies airborne disease transmission in enclosures. the spaces. She also suggested using a HEPA air filter certified by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. What about unvaccinated children? The coronavirus vaccine is not available for most children because the results of clinical trials are still to come. Let’s say there are two healthy families of four. If children are not vaccinated in either household but all adults are, you might consider inviting people inside as long as the windows are open and everyone is wearing masks, Dr. Asaf Bitton, a primary care physician who leads an audience. health research laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. If children in both households are not vaccinated and only one group of adults have been vaccinated, he and other experts said an outdoor meeting with masks and distances would be safer. You might be wondering if your unvaccinated children can finally get a hug and kiss from their healthy, vaccinated grandmother. On this issue, the opinions of experts differed. But in general, if everyone is healthy, and you’re comfortable taking some degree of risk, a hug or a kiss is probably fine. “The likelihood of my child transmitting a virus that ends up causing serious illness in my vaccinated parents is very, very low,” Barocas said. Likewise, he added, it is unlikely that a vaccinated adult will pass the virus on to a child. That said, the experts have advised you to do what’s right for you and your family. “I think everyone on this visit should understand that we are balancing the risks and the benefits,” said Dr Adam Ratner, director of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at New York University Langone Health. But, he added, if grandparents are vaccinated, “I’m a pro at hugs and kisses.” Jennifer Rogers, 46, a lawyer in Philadelphia, said her husband and two children, 8 and 11, would celebrate Easter by visiting her parents’ home for several hours. They plan to hold an outdoor Easter egg hunt and get rid of a coronavirus-shaped piñata. But the children, who will be joined by Rogers’ sister and her sister’s son, will all wear masks. Rogers and her husband are both vaccinated, but they also plan to wear masks as their family will have recently returned from vacation in Florida. “It always feels like a loss, like it isn’t the same,” said Rogers, whose family typically spend the night with their parents during the holidays. Can our fully vaccinated relatives fly to see us? The CDC always says no. “We know that after mass travel, after vacation, after vacation, we tend to see an increase in cases,” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky recently said on MSNBC. “And so, we really want to make sure – again with only 10% of people vaccinated – that we limit travel.” We are also currently learning whether people vaccinated without symptoms can unknowingly transmit infections to households they visit, Bitton said. “Traveling in small metal tubes and in crowded airports and taxis carries transmission risks,” he added. Danielle Nuzzo, 36, a communications manager whose family celebrates Easter and Passover, lives in California with her husband and 2-year-old daughter across the country of both grandparents. As soon as the grandparents got vaccinated, they asked if they could visit during the holidays, she said. But Nuzzo and her husband are not yet vaccinated and they did not feel comfortable welcoming someone who had just jumped from a plane. In the end, they decided they would celebrate like they did last year: on Zoom. “It’s really hard. It’s emotional,” Nuzzo said. “We want her to know who her grandparents are and see them. But we also want to do what’s right and just be safe.” If your family decides to travel, get a full coronavirus vaccine first, if you are eligible, and also take a COVID-19 test one to three days before travel, recommends the CDC. vaccinated or not, must wear a mask; try to stay at least 6 feet from others; get tested again three to five days after your trip and quarantine for seven days, even if your test is negative. (If you don’t get tested, the CDC says, you should quarantine yourself for 10 days.) Check your state and local requirements, as different areas have different rules. New York State, for example, asserts that domestic travelers do not need to get quarantined for the first three months after being fully vaccinated, provided they are asymptomatic. What if my loved ones and I disagree on what is certain? After a year of public health warnings, some family members might feel uncomfortable relaxing the rules while others might be anxious to get back to normal. Last year, ahead of the Thanksgiving vacation, Claudia Allen, a clinical psychologist and director of the Family Stress Clinic at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, told the New York Times that in the event of a difference of opinion , it is important not to be judgmental. , start teaching, or assume your loved ones have bad motives. “People who are willing to take more risks usually do so because they value the connection. And people who are less willing to take risks are generally less willing because they put safety first. The connection and the security are both good, ”Allen said at the time. The same advice applies for spring break. “A delicate new aspect is that some people are vaccinated and others are not,” she said. If you disagree with a family member, remember to acknowledge the other person’s good intentions, even if you ultimately have to agree to disagree, Allen said. Take a moment to acknowledge their feelings and the uncertainty of the situation as well and say, “I fully understand your caution; we must all try to assess the risks as best we can. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. © 2021 The New York Times Company
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