The Dilemma Never Before: COVID-19 during the Festive Season

Opinion Analysis by Ismat Annan, Contributor

December 23rd, 2020

For millions of families across the world, holidays are a time they get together and celebrate the festive season. With Christmas right around the corner, how will it be with COVID-19 around? Ever since the breakout earlier this year, nothing has been the same. Schools and offices are closed, hospitals are at full capacity, economies are facing recessions, education is online, and the list goes on. But what about the holidays? How are people celebrating this year-round? One thing is for sure, COVID-19 does not spare family gatherings, with social get-togethers becoming a lot riskier than preceding years.  

Public health experts are already expecting a rise in COVID-19 numbers (“Thanksgiving During COVID-19: Keep Safety on the Table”, 2020). So far, three million people have described that they have already travelled from one or more US airports in the last five days. However, in comparison to last year, this number is around half of what it was in 2019(“Coronavirus: Millions travel for Thanksgiving despite warnings”, 2020). The holiday season has barely even begun, and we have already seen scary numbers all around, particularly in the US which recorded 150,000 COVID-19 cases – an almost 50% increase in the past two weeks, according to the COVID Tracking’s data (“Our Data”, 2020). 

On a national level, many countries and states have been planning ahead of time ways to attenuate this expecting rise in their respective cities. For examples, New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, has revealed in a press conference some new measures set to attenuate the spread of the novel virus (Perrett, 2020). The measures include prohibiting gatherings with more than 10 persons in private residences. This comes after an increase in positive COVID-19 test results, from 1% in summer to 2% in the past 7 days (“State Overview”, 2020). This measure came just in time before many New Yorkers celebrated Thanksgiving and a few weeks before Christmas. The Business Insider’s request for more details on how this will be implemented was denied.

Similarly, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) set some guides early on, just in time for the festive season. First, they set a lockdown between 5 AM and 10 PM (“Blueprint For Safer Economy”, 2020), then proceeded to put restrictions on each county depending on their ability to curb the numbers. Some of these restrictions include time restrictions on the gatherings (less than two hours), indoor gatherings restrictions and outdoor restrictions (“Holidays and COVID-19”, 2020). Other countries went a little further with the measures they set. Germany, for instance, prohibited the opening of restaurants and bars during Christmas and capped the number of people in each gathering at ten (“Coronavirus: Germany announces tightening of restrictions until Christmas”, 2020).

On a more intimate level, taking into consideration additional precise planning, one can make precious memories while minimizing any risk of being exposed to or spreading COVID-19 to your loved ones, both family and friends (“Thanksgiving During COVID-19: Keep Safety on the Table”, 2020). In a recently conducted study, 53% of the responders said their family holiday gatherings are still set to happen, in comparison to 47% saying their gatherings were cancelled. A closer look at those who will still be having their family gatherings suggests that 74% will have smallergatherings than usual (Goodman, 2020).

Downsizing the gatherings is an alternative to completely cancelling dinners, while respecting the guidelines set in place. Besides downsizing, certain guidelines must be respected especially around the holidays, including constantly wash our hands and/or sanitize frequently. Remembering to keep at least 6 feet distance from each other is a significant preventive factor, along with keeping the mask on as much as possible. Taking into consideration each of these safety measures will aid in trying to keep others and ourselves safe from the virus (Goodman, 2020).

It is important for one to also consider alternatives to missing the gatherings. We can still send hot meals to our loved ones. We can abide by the regulations set. We need to remember it is not social distancing, it is just physicaldistancing. Each government has a team of experts working on the regulations; hence they are in everyone’s best interest. 

Many experts in the field have already sacrificed their time usually spent celebrating with their families this last Thanksgiving due to their exposure, and many more will be doing the same as we approach Christmas. Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told the Business Insider that his children will refrain from visiting him and his wife to limit any exposure to this virus, particularly because he is at a higher risk of infection due to his age (McFall-Johnsen & Woodward, 2020). Another expert in COVID-19, Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University School of Public Health, will be missing the celebrations with her family physically, saying the risks are too high.

However, she will be joining them over Zoom. Other experts were willing to find a compromise between spending Thanksgiving alone and respecting the guidelines and policies set. For example, William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University, contends that he found a suitable compromise. His family did not have Thanksgiving dinner together, as that requires removing one’s mask. Instead, they met up after dinner for two hours, while adhering to all the social distancing measures including masking and maintaining physical distancing. 

At this point, the holiday season has just officially started, yet numbers have already drastically increased in every corner of the world. What are we to expect? Where will this leave us?  Is this going to be the new norm in spending the holidays? Several public health experts are optimistic that holidays in 2021 will be much easier. "This year is the COVID year. Thanksgiving has got to be different," Schaffner said (Goodman, 2020). "Let's not get too excited about this. It's only one year."

References

Blueprint for a Safer Economy. (2020). Retrieved from https://covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy/

Coronavirus: Germany announces tightening of restrictions until Christmas: DW: 25.11.2020. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-germany-announces-tightening-of-restrictions-until-christmas/a-55724968

Goodman, B. (2020). We Asked Five Experts for COVID Thanksgiving Advice. Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20201028/we-asked-five-experts-for-covid-thanksgiving-advice

Holidays and COVID-19. (2020). Retrieved from https://covid19.ca.gov/holidays/

McFall-Johnsen, M., & Woodward, A. (2020). 9 public-health experts share their own Thanksgiving plans: Most are staying home, but some will gather outdoors with masks. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/us-coronavirus-experts-share-thanksgiving-holiday-plans-2020-10

Our Data. (2020). Retrieved from https://covidtracking.com/data

Perrett, C. (2020). As the holiday season approaches, New York Gov. Cuomo prohibits gatherings larger than 10 people at private residences. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-prohibits-gatherings-larger-than-10-2020-11

State Overview. (2020). Retrieved from https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/us/new-york

Thanksgiving During COVID-19: Keep Safety on the Table. (2020). Retrieved from https://healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/COVID-19/Pages/Thanksgiving-During-COVID.aspx