Holidays & Covid-19

Holidays help us maintain our sense of rituals and ‘normalcy’ during a not-so normal time. Whatever we can do to keep holiday celebrations and traditions at least partially intact — while remaining safe — serves as a guidepost or compass during these turbulent times - Robert Glatter

Holidays & Covid-19
Holidays & Covid-19

image by: Gustavo Fring

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Going home for the holidays? Boost, mask, and test beforehand

Winter 2020 was the season of Zoom holidays. By 2021, the omicron surge spoiled end-of-year plans. So far, the 2022 holiday season is off to a bumpy start with an early, sharp surge of flu and respiratory syncytial virus cases with an expected wave of Covid-19 cases on the horizon.

With a lack of national and local precautionary guidance, individuals are now on their own to gauge risk and protection. However, Americans have more tools in their arsenal when it comes to protecting themselves against Covid this holiday season: vaccines, boosters, tests, masks, knowledge of how the virus spreads. Keep these best practices in mind, experts say, and you can celebrate like it’s 2019

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  How to Approach the Holidays

So my main advice this year is to make a plan. I know how uncomfortable it can be to call up your relatives and ask them, “When are you testing?” and “How are you thinking about virus precautions this year?” But thinking through some of these obstacles together and getting on the same page may alleviate a lot of anxiety and tension.

  Don’t poison your loved ones: shopping tips for a non-toxic holiday season

With the holidays upon us, here are a few rules of thumb that can help consumers avoid buying gifts that may poison a loved one this holiday season.

Articles of Interest

Here's How The CDC Says You Should Celebrate The Holidays This Year

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Winter is coming, again: What to expect from Covid-19 as the season looms

Late November coincides with Thanksgiving, America’s favorite week for cross-country travel. Last year, Thanksgiving and Christmas turbo-charged Covid spread. Can transmission levels remain low if large family gatherings occur across the nation this year?

With omicron looming over the holidays, here's how to stay safe

The good news is, you don't have to hibernate like it's 2020. Experts note we're in a much different place than we were last winter, with COVID-19 vaccines and boosters now widely available. There's good hope that the current vaccines offer protection against severe disease with omicron.

Covid Christmas plans: How to celebrate the holidays during Covid-19

Hosting this year has been no small feat—and the biggest party season of all is almost here. As much as we’d like for things to be “business as usual” this holiday, planning for Christmas 2020 requires a little more work to keep guests happy and healthy.

The enormous privilege of choosing to travel during a pandemic

The holidays are going to look very different this year. As the US approaches the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of November, and the world anticipates a swirl of end-of-year celebrations, Covid-19 cases are reaching an all-time high. There are safer ways to celebrate with loved ones: The safest, of course, is to keep the party within your household. But several public health organizations, including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have put out guidance on traveling and eating together, if you absolutely can’t imagine a Thanksgiving without extended family and friends.

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For many of us, the forced confinement of lockdown has reiterated the importance of being out and about in nature – along with the benefits it can bring.

2020 - 'Tis The Season To Celebrate. Here's How To Do It Safely

It's supposed to be the happiest time of the year, but this year it doesn't really feel like it. With many of us hunkered down at home, some having lost jobs, others having lost friends and family members to COVID-19 or other illnesses, it's tempting to give this holiday season a miss.

2020: How to guarantee a safe, COVID-19-free holiday

The end of the pandemic is in sight, but it’s not over yet.

2020: You can survive winter and not spread Covid-19. Here’s how.

Whether you usually celebrate Christmas, Festivus, New Year’s, or a birthday this time of year, it’s likely that plans for a get-together will need to be adapted — if not scuttled altogether.

Can Covid Winter Be Merry and Bright? We Asked the Experts

In many ways, the situation looks brighter than last year: Most adults are vaccinated, young children can now get shots and, hopefully, people can get their hands on rapid tests. But new risks emerge as more Americans are likely to try to have a “normal” holiday season. We asked three experts from different disciplines to respond to a selection of questions from readers about how to think about risk and navigate another Covid winter.

Covid-19 Holiday Travel Planned? Here’s What You Need to Know About Flying

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Hang in There, Help Is on the Way

Times are tough now, but the end is in sight. If we hunker down, keep our families safe during the holidays and monitor our health at home, life will get better in the spring. Here’s how to get through it.

Hang On for 3 More Months

Some simple advice for anyone contemplating a holiday gathering: Wait until March.

Holiday Gatherings During COVID-19: What Doctors Say About Traveling and Family Events

While there is nothing that can completely eliminate the risk if people chose to celebrate the holidays with others, the good news is that there are ways of making a gathering safer.

Holidays Must Look Different This Year. Lives Are at Stake

This year’s holiday season will be hard. But shared sacrifice will keep coronavirus outbreaks from spreading further.

How to Ease the Worry of Holiday Gathering

For many people, coping with the anxiety of going out and about may be the hardest part of adjusting to this next phase of pandemic life.

How to host a safe holiday meal during coronavirus – an epidemiologist explains her personal plans

We are not canceling the holidays, but to keep ourselves and others safe, we are keeping plans small and flexible and remembering that the health of those we love is most important as we enter the season of gratitude.

How to keep COVID-19 at bay during the summer holidays — and help make travel bubbles a reality in 2021

The virus won’t be taking a summer holiday so, if we want to have one, there are three main things we all need to do...

How to keep up employee morale during a difficult holiday season

People are facing the bleak prospect of spending the holidays alone. This should matter to managers of businesses.

How to Make Traveling for the Holidays a Little Safer

The safest way to spend time with family this year is virtually. But if there's no other option but to travel home, take measures to minimize risk.

Is There a Safe Way to Be Home for the Holidays?

Throughout the pandemic, Americans have been tempted to violate public-health experts’ recommendations. The winter holidays might be the strongest temptation yet.

Pandemic December: How to stay connected and resilient in a COVID-19 holiday season

This year’s holiday season will no doubt be different. The holidays are already a time of increased mental health risks because of anxiety, depression, seasonal affective disorder, alcohol/substance use and other factors. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic will add a major pressure to the festive season.

What a distanced holiday season means for people with disabilities and chronic health conditions

Everyone is affected in one way or another by the virus and the measures taken to combat it. Many people are feeling the emotional and psychological toll of weathering this pandemic. It has been a long and hard journey through the storm and, even though we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel, the journey is not over yet.

What would the public health experts do? STAT asked 28 about their holiday plans amid Covid-19

To try to gauge where things stand, we asked a number of infectious diseases experts about the risks they are willing to take now, figuring that their answers might give us a sense of whether we’re making our way out of the woods. Their responses signal some progress — but not as much, to be honest, as we had hoped. The experts — like much of the American public — have made clear that they aren’t going to give up another Thanksgiving for the sake of trying to stem the spread of Covid.

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