A few of the biggest questions this holiday season will be, “to travel or not to travel?” and “to gather or not to gather?” For some people, they’ve quickly answered these questions, taking the lowest level of risk as outlined by the CDC: celebrating with people in their immediate household and planning for virtual visits. For others, they may be making elaborate travel plans, with itineraries that include pre-testing, quarantining, post-testing and hoping for the best. You may find yourself weighing various levels of vigilance and care, as you find ways to meet the basic human need of social interaction and contact with others. Regardless of where a person’s boundaries fall in caring for oneself and one’s family, people will tap into their sense of risk assessment and make the decision that seems the most right for them and their loved ones. Below are a few ideas to help you plan, whether you stay home and celebrate virtually or plan to take the risk of traveling and visiting relatives and friends this holiday season.

Staying Home/Virtual Visits
If you are leaning towards staying at home and not gathering in-person this year, here are a few ways you can reach out and find connection this holiday season.

Consider setting up a gathering with multiple people over a video conferencing platform like Zoom, Hangouts, Skype or Facebook: share some of your favorite family recipes in your respective kitchens; have a cookie decorating contest; send each other gifts ahead of time and open them together. All that’s required is a little know-how of the technology, some imagination, and maybe a Pinterest account for a plethora of ideas to celebrate virtually in ways that are meaningful to you and yours. If the technology required for virtual hosting sounds a like more of a headache that you are willing to handle or accessibility is an issue, maybe ask another family member who might use the conferencing platforms more often to see if they would help host.

Another option is to only celebrate in-person with those who live in your immediate household and find ways to connect with others outside of virtual conferencing. (Zoom-fatigue is real for many!) Make time to send plenty of cards and notes by mail to your friends and loved ones, especially those who might be living alone and may feel the weight of isolation over the holiday season even more so this year. Call people or sing them sweet and kiddy holiday songs on their voicemail. There’s also video messaging app options, like Marco Polo, that allow you to leave personal video messages anytime to anyone else who might be on the app. To get you in the spirit this giving season, you may also want to elect to volunteer for contactless food drive donations or raise funds online for your favorite charity.

Holiday Travelling/Visiting
“Fall and winter celebrations, such as Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Halloween, Día de los Muertos, Navratri, Diwali, Thanksgiving, Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, and New Year’s, typically include large gatherings of families and friends, crowded parties, and travel that may put people at increased risk for COVID-19,” says the Center for Disease Control (CDC) on their website.

If you still plan to visit relatives this year, please take a look at some considerations the CDC has outlined for assessing risk if you’re are planning for holiday celebrations. Considerations include before and after-gathering preparation, hosting advisories, and traveling guidelines that include basic public health practices such as avoiding indoor spaces, especially poorly ventilated indoor spaces, mask-wearing, minimizing the guest list, and social distancing. The CDC also advises that individuals follow local, county, and state-wide regulations that are put in place to help slow the spread.

Infection experts have indicated that inter-household gatherings are key factors in rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. As early as May of this year, a Twitter thread from Muge Cevik, an infectious disease researcher at the University of St. Andrews, covered a lot of the relevant research.

“High infection rates seen in household, friend & family gatherings, transport suggest that closed contacts in congregation is likely the key driver of productive transmission,” she wrote, adding that “while we have limited data, similar high risk transmission pattern could be seen in other crowded & connected indoor environments such as crowded office spaces, other workplace environment, packed restaurants/cafes, cramped apartment buildings etc.”

Since the virus is spread by respiratory droplets, minimizing the number of households gathering, outdoors and especially indoors, will help make the other basic public health practices of mask wearing, ventilation, social-distancing, and hand-washing effective.  A recent article by Vox shares stories of people making travel plans as it relates to their own understanding of the risks involved. Reading such stories may help you process risk-assessment and brainstorm any ideas you may have for traveling and visiting this year. For some, as the article indicates, taking the risk of travel and visiting relatives is better than other alternatives, and has provided some much needed reprieve from the day-to-day isolation and stress of coping under a global pandemic.

“At Home” During The Holidays
Whatever you decide to do, whether you are sheltering-in-place or travelling to visit relatives, it’s important to note that not everyone in your family or friend network will share the same idea of what it means to stay safe as they make celebration plans. Please also listen to those who might feel the most vulnerable, the least safe, or the most anxious as you make your plans in a group and consider collectively what your group consensus will look like. Not everyone will have the same boundaries or same level of comfort in considering both the risks of isolation and the risks of gathering. It’s important to do your best to openly discuss with your immediate household what is best to stay safe, to find ways to celebrate and to reach out and connect to those you will be missing this year.

As you and your loved ones navigate these difficult times, we hope that you are finding ways to fulfill the basic human need of connection and joy-making. Stay safe and take care.