Celebrate the holidays safely - limit gatherings and avoid travel

Protect yourself and your loved ones during the holidays by limiting in-person gatherings, skipping non-essential travel, and seeking alternatives to traditions that pose high risk for COVID-19 spread.

The safest gathering is one that is a small, stable group that meets outdoors for a short duration and uses face coverings, distance and other safety measures. 

Avoid holiday travel, but if you must, take extra precautions and avoid higher risk activities like spending time indoors with those without a mask. Health Officers strongly recommend that those who travel quarantine themselves for 14 days.

These holiday travel and gathering recommendations, released jointly this week by the Health Officers of the City of Berkeley and eight Bay Area counties, come as we see cases rise in the region - and surge elsewhere in the nation. We are not immune.

We need everyone to do their part to reduce transmission. We must maintain healthy habits, be selective about which public activities we do, and adapt our traditions to find new ways to celebrate that don't lead to a spike in cases.  

Avoid travel during the holidays

Travel outside the Bay Area increases your chance of getting infected and spreading the virus to others after your return. Health Officers recommend that everyone avoid non-essential travel during the holiday season.

If you do travel, take precautions to reduce your risk of catching COVID-19 or spreading it to fellow travelers:

• Wear a face covering at all times
• Keep at least 6 feet away from other travelers, when possible
• Open windows in cars or buses
• Wash or sanitize your hands often
• Avoiding touching your eyes, nose, and mouth
• Get tested before and after your travel
• Get a flu shot before traveling

Do not travel if you are sick. If you have a cough, fever, sore throat, or other symptoms consistent with COVID-19, isolate yourself at home.

Quarantine for 14 days after returning

Health Officers strongly recommend that anyone who travels outside the Bay Area quarantine at home for 14 days after their return.

Monitor your health during this period and get tested immediately if you have any symptoms. Even if you don't develop symptoms, consider getting tested around 3-7 days after your return, particularly if you visited an area with heightened COVID-19 transmission.  

If celebrating with others, keep gatherings small and safe

Gathering with family, friends, and neighbors is a treasured part of the holidays for many of us. This year, most of those celebrations will need to become virtual events. If you're planning to gather in person, please do so in a way that minimizes risk:

• Stay outside. During COVID-19, outdoors is much safer than indoors. Covered spaces are okay, as long as 75% of the space is open to the outdoors.
• Keep it small. Current State and City rules limit gatherings to a maximum of 3 households and 20 people.
• Keep it short. The longer people gather together, the greater the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Limit gatherings with people outside your household to a maximum of 2 hours.
• Stick with a stable group. Pick one or two other households to spend time with. Don't participate in multiple gatherings with many different households. The more different households mix together, the higher the risk of spreading COVID-19.

During gatherings with your small group, everyone should wear a mask and stay six feet away from those they don't live with.

Avoid singing and chanting

Music is part of many of our holiday traditions, but this is not the year for caroling. Singing, chanting, and shouting all increase the amount and force of respiratory droplets we expel, causing them to travel farther than usual. These droplets are the primary way COVID-19 spreads between people. Due to the elevated risk, avoid signing and chanting when around people you don't live with.

Adapt by moving traditions online this year

Even though we can't celebrate in person the way we're used to, we can still connect with friends and family virtually. Look for alternative ways enjoy the holidays with loved ones without getting together:

• Host a virtual holiday dinner or brunch over videoconference.
• Recreate the fun of cooking together remotely - pick a recipe to make together over video chat
• Sync up and enjoy a favorite holiday movie while on the phone together.
• Organize an online holiday craft or home decoration contest.
• Cook your favorite holiday foods at home and deliver them to friends and family. Remember - if you're sharing food with people you don't live with, make sure to wash your hands frequently and wear a face covering while cooking and delivering your treats.

COVID-19 doesn't take holidays off. For the health of our whole community, please be careful to reduce opportunities for spread this season - avoid travel, limit gatherings, and choose remote celebrations

Links

• Holiday gathering recommendations: English | Spanish
• Holiday travel recommendations: English | Spanish
• Home quarantine instructions: English | Spanish (Berkeley Public Health)
• Guidance for private gatherings (California Department of Public Health)
• Symptoms of COVID-19 (CDC)