It’s the holiday season! Many of us would love to spend time with our loved ones, especially those we haven’t seen for months. Now is normally the perfect time to meet up with family, but unfortunately,the global pandemic has not let up one bit since we first started hearing about it at the beginning of the year. The guidelines recently posted by the CDC recommend limiting contact to the people who are either within your immediate household or within one other household. Many states are also taking precautions due to a nationwide spike of cases. For example, the state of Michigan enacted new restrictions intended to limit the occurrence of large gatherings last week. This past Friday the US set a record for the highest number of cases reported in a single day with over 190,000 cases. That is a horrific increase from just September.
Restrictions were eased across the country, and many people were able to get back to some semblance of normalcy. We started eating at restaurants, attending gatherings, and living life with the extra weight of a mask on our faces. We may have moved on, but the coronavirus didn’t. So what does this mean? It means that we all need to do our part in keeping cases down. Masks and social distancing are just two steps that can make a difference, but they aren’t the only ones. One thing we can do is limit our contact with people outside of our personal bubbles. The biggest thing we can do is to stay away from large gatherings such as weddings and parties. I cannot stress this enough; large gatherings are superspreaders. Asymptomatic cases are part of the reason why it may seem safe to attend a gathering at the time, but people still contract the virus afterwards.
Now is not the time to become complacent. Families have lost loved ones because of coronavirus. They will not be able to celebrate with their family members this holiday season. It may not be an exciting winter, but it certainly can be a safe one if we all do our part in protecting the people around us. Everyone wants this pandemic to be over, but it will have to take some sacrifices in order for there to even be a possibility of an end. While we await a vaccine we must listen to the experts. Wear a mask wherever you go, stay six feet away from others, avoid large gatherings, spend time with people in your own household, wash your hands, and most importantly don’t forget why these measures were put in place.
Happy holidays and stay safe everyone!
If you want to learn more about COVID-19 data and guidelines I recommend checking out these sources:
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays.html
https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/0,9753,7-406-98163_98173—,00.html