The state of California released new guidelines for the upcoming holiday season on how people should plan to visit with their families.
The guidelines are rules that people will need to follow if they want to have a social gathering, which the state defines as “social situations that bring together people from different households at the same time in a single space or place.”
The guidelines, in part, are:
- Gatherings can not have people from more than three households. This includes anyone who is present at the gatherings.
- Keep the households you spend time with stable. Don’t mix into multiple gatherings.
- The host should collect names and contact information of attendees for contact tracing.
- All gatherings must be held outside. People can go inside to use the bathroom.
- Gatherings “may occur in outdoor spaces that are covered by umbrellas, canopies, awnings, roofs, and other shade structures provided that at least three sides of the space (or 75%) are open to the outdoors.”
- Gatherings of more than three households can happen at a park or outdoor space.
- Don’t attend a gathering if you feel sick.
- Keep physical distance from others and practice hand hygiene.
- Wear a face mask when you can to stop COVID-19 from spreading.
- Gatherings should only be two hours or less.
- “Singing, chanting, and shouting are strongly discouraged.” Those who participate in those activities should wear masks.
Reactions
Celebrities in California joked about the guidelines, saying that they’re not really enforceable and they are unconstitutional, according to Fox News. Some celebrities even vowed to break the rules so they could spend time with the families during the holiday season.
Holidays and COVID-19
Dr. Anthony Fauci recently told CNN that COVID-19 spikes in the fall may make Thanksgiving dinners less safe, so it might be best to avoid them.
But what we’re starting to see now — and we can’t run away from it — we’re starting to see in the Midwest and the Northwest an uptick in test positivity which tends to be a predictor that you’re going to have surges. When you go into the fall and winter, the weather’s colder, you tend to be indoors. When you’re indoors it becomes more problematic to be able to block the transmission of infection.
I say that some people in this country are going to be a relatively normal type of a Thanksgiving but in other areas of the country, it’s gonna be — you better hold off and maybe just have immediate family. Make sure you do it in a way that people wear masks and you don’t have large crowds of people. You know, I’d like to say that everything is gonna be great by Thanksgiving, but I’m not so sure it is.