The best gift you can give your loved ones this year? A COVID-free holiday season.
By all indications, getting infected with COVID has ceased to be a frightening prospect for most. Few people wear a mask in public. Proof of vaccination is rarely required to visit most establishments. And the share of people who have received the latest booster shot is just 14%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But COVID-19 is still a very real threat with hundreds of people in the United States dying every day, most of them over the age of 65. In other words, our grandmas and abuelitas.
Let’s keep them safe by taking COVID-19 precautions seriously. Considering it’s our third winter since the pandemic began, we should be pros at using the tools we have to avoid turning our holiday gatherings into superspreader events.
It may seem as though it’s safe to gather in large numbers with family and friends in warm, cozy homes for holiday celebrations. But it’s prime COVID season, along with influenza and other deadly respiratory diseases. Past winter surges of coronavirus were tied directly to holiday gatherings and travel.
Public health experts warn that the risk remains for serious illness, hospitalization and death from an infection as well as long COVID, where symptoms persist for months and years. Those at higher risk for serious illness include people who are older, have disabilities such as cerebral palsy or underlying medical conditions such cancer, kidney disease and cystic fibrosis. People of color who live or work in denser, high-risk areas and may have limited access to medical care are also at high risk for serious illness.
In Los Angeles County, the mortality rate due to COVID-19 is highest for those living in areas of high poverty and for Latinos. The mortality rate for Latinos — 475 deaths per 1,000 people — is more than double that of white people.
Even those who are not part of the above groups can easily transmit the virus, even if asymptomatic, in the first few days of an infection. Who wants to be responsible for passing on the virus to older relatives or those with weakened immune systems who may be less able to fend off serious illness?
And it’s so easy to avoid. Face masks, rapid tests and booster shots are available in local pharmacies, and the Biden administration once again is sending out at-home COVID-19 tests at no charge. And in a pinch, gatherings can move outdoors or to well-ventilated areas.
It’s disappointing that we are facing another COVID-19 Christmas this Sunday — and another new year in which the pandemic persists. But by now, we know how to keep one another safe.
