How To Celebrate The Holidays Safely This Year

WASHINGTON — The coronavirus is surging in Washington and across the country, and health officials say the last thing the country needs is for holiday celebrations to create another spike in COVID-19 cases.

That's why the Washington State Department of Health is urging everyone: be careful, and make smart choices this holiday season.

“As the state continues to experience very high COVID-19 activity, now is not the time to let our guard down” said Lacy Fehrenbach, Deputy Secretary of Health for COVID-19. “We understand that people want to gather with friends and extended family in-person for the holidays, but that just isn’t possible to do safely this year. Many of us discovered creative and unique ways to celebrate Thanksgiving, and we are asking everyone do the same when planning their winter holiday celebrations.”

Since the latest surge in cases started early last month, Washington's top officials have been asking residents to consider staying home for the holidays this year.

Instead of getting together with family and friends for the holidays or New Year's celebrations this year, the health department says to consider some of the following alternatives:

• Organize an online holiday gathering. An online gathering over Skype or Zoom is much safer than gathering in person.
  • The health department suggests meeting online for cookie decorating, caroling making gingerbread houses or just watching a movie.
• Take a holiday hike. It's chilly out, but it's much safer to do an outdoor activity right now.
• Other outdoor activities like snowball fights, snowshoeing, or sledding. Again, anything outdoors is much safer than an indoor gathering. If you do end up planning an outdoor activity with anyone who is not a part of your household, wear a mask and practice social distancing.
• Drop off gifts or treats for friends and family, without going inside. You can still show your loved ones you care by leaving presents for them, without taking risks by going inside.

The health department stresses that parties or gatherings with people from outside your home are a violation of the latest batch of COVID-19 regulations that Gov. Inslee announced in November.

Regardless of what you end up choosing to do, there are a few universal safety tips that the Department of Health says everyone should follow:

• Avoid close contact with others outside your household. Stay six feet or more away from people who do not live with you.
• Wear a cloth face covering whenever you are around people not from your household. Facial coverings are required at businesses, but if you are gathering with anyone, even family members who don't live with you, you should wear a facial covering.
• Avoid cramped indoor spaces. The virus spreads much more easily indoors, so try to keep activity outdoors. If that isn't possible, try to increase ventilation by opening doors or windows.
• Wash or sanitize your hands frequently. Children may also need to be reminded to wash more often.
• Stay home if you are sick, have COVID-19 symptoms or were recently exposed to someone with COVID-19.

For their final tip, the health department says: stay hopeful, and remember that you're making the right choice for the greater good, and that this pandemic won't last forever:

We are all tired of limiting contact with those we love but this is not forever. With COVID-19 vaccines around the corner, our ability to socialize is very likely to start slowly improving in the spring and may come sooner if we all can interact with each other safely.