Prognosis
CDC Recommends Changes to Holiday Celebrations to Curb Virus
- Traditional activities like trick-or-treating seen as risky
- Holiday travel may help spread coronavirus, agency says
People dance during the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York in 2019.
Photographer: Kena Betancur/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
New guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the upcoming holiday season warns that hosts and attendees at holiday celebrations will need to take steps to limit the risk of contracting and spreading the novel coronavirus.
Virtual gatherings or those that involve one’s immediate household are low-risk, the agency said in a posting Monday. If people do gather in person for Christmas and other holidays, the CDC recommends doing so outdoors, keeping groups small, using measures like mask-wearing and social distancing, and considering local virus conditions as well as where attendees are coming from.