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What the CDC says
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released their own Thanksgiving guidelines to supplement those released by state and local heads.
The health agency’s advice largely echoes that of Delaware Valley health officials, highlighting the different levels of risk that come with face-to-face meetings.
“Unfortunately, the COVID-19 epidemic is worsening,” the CDC wrote in its guidelines, “and small household gatherings are contributing significantly to the increase in COVID-19 cases.”
Who is considered high risk?
People with or exposed to COVID-19 in the past 14 days are urged not to attend meetings in person. Those waiting for coronavirus test results and / or showing symptoms of COVID-19 should also avoid such gatherings.
The CDC recommends that people at increased risk for serious illness – including those who are immunocompromised, with chronic health conditions, or over the age of 64 – avoid face-to-face gatherings with people outside their homes.
What risk factors should I consider?
The CDC cited several factors that contribute to the risk of the virus spreading during such gatherings.
High or increasing community levels of COVID-19 – both in the gathering place and in participants’ home areas – increase the risk of infection.
Georgia Tech has created an interactive national map that visualizes the risk at which a participant in a rally (based on size and location) may be positive for COVID-19.
Here’s where to find information on the number of coronavirus cases in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
How people plan to travel and where people plan to congregate also play an important role. Public transportation modes – whether by plane, subway, or otherwise – provide additional places where travelers can be exposed to the virus. Indoor gatherings, especially in small, enclosed spaces with poor ventilation, pose a greater risk than outdoor gatherings.
Traveling by car to a destination may seem like the safest bet on paper, says Penn’s Cannuscio, but it’s not that simple.
“We have to think about our families, and then we have to think about what would happen if each family made the same decision as we do? said Cannuscio, who works with a team of contact tracers at Penn in conjunction with the city’s public health department. “Are we all going to hit the road for Thanksgiving like everyone else in the United States?” There is traffic, people are stopping at rest areas, there are probably more accidents on the road, which puts more pressure on first responders and on hospitals.
The longer the gathering and the greater the number of participants, the greater the risk. The extent to which attendees from different households can stay at least 6 feet apart while being masked should be an important factor in any Thanksgiving planning.
How attendees behave before and during Thanksgiving gatherings makes a difference, the CDC guidelines explain. People who didn’t always respect social distancing, wearing masks, and other pre-Thanksgiving safety precautions are at greater risk than those who did. Likewise, observing these same precautions when collecting for the holidays mitigates the risk of the virus spreading.
How can I mitigate the risks?
The best way to reduce the risk of the coronavirus spreading is to avoid in-person gatherings with people outside your immediate household or to celebrate the holidays virtually. On Thanksgiving Day, Zoom lifts its 40-minute meeting limit for free.
Those who choose to gather for Thanksgiving in person can reduce their risk of spreading the virus by adopting COVID-19 safety precautions such as wearing a mask and social distancing.
El País, a Spanish newspaper, recently illustrated three common contexts, including a social gathering in a living room, to understand how contagion works.
If six people gather inside a house and one person tests positive for COVID, says El País, the likelihood of contagion is high if no action is taken to combat the infection.
Health officials are increasingly pointing to this type of gathering, where people let their guard down among friends and family, as one of the reasons for the surge in COVID-19 cases.
“Whether the safety distances are respected or not, if the six people spend four hours together talking loudly, without wearing a face mask in a room without ventilation, five will be infected, according to the scientific model explained in the methodology”, Javier Salas written.
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