Before we started cooking brisket or ham for the whole family, we asked CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen what families should consider.
Wen is an emergency physician and visiting professor of health policy and management at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University and author of the forthcoming book “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health”. Here’s her advice.
CNN: Let’s start with the easiest scenario. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that fully vaccinated people can gather indoors, right?
Dr. Leana Wen: That’s right. Fully vaccinated means that it is at least two weeks after the second injection of one of the two-dose vaccines, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, or two weeks after the Johnson & Johnson single dose vaccine. If everyone who wants to celebrate together is fully vaccinated, they can see each other safely, according to the CDC – including indoors, without masks – and have a meal together.
CNN: Is there a limit to the number of people who can safely participate in the Seder or Easter brunch?
Wen: No, but it is very important that everyone is fully vaccinated. The higher the number, the greater the chance that you will have the chance that not everyone has received the vaccine – or that it has not been two weeks since you received it. You should ask and confirm that everyone is vaccinated before meeting with them. If you are unsure or feel uncomfortable because someone may not be accessible, I recommend that you decline the invitation.
CNN: And if those who come are not vaccinated because they cannot. For example, what about children?
Wen: The CDC says that if people who are fully vaccinated are meeting with families that have unvaccinated people, they should see only one family at a time. That is, let’s say that grandparents are vaccinated and have two sets of children, each with unvaccinated grandchildren. They can see them one at a time, on two different visits, but they should not see them together because the risk is in unvaccinated individuals who may pose a risk to each other.
In this example, there are two options. One, grandparents could see each set of families separately and celebrate the holiday twice. In that case, as long as unvaccinated people are not at high risk of serious consequences from Covid-19, this should be a relatively low risk. And it can be done very closely, indoors, without masks, breaking bread and sharing a meal together.
Another option is for everyone to meet outdoors, with members of different families separated by at least two meters apart. In this scenario, it is still better to be very cautious. I would not recommend sharing food, drink or utensils. Looking for afikomen during the Seder or hunting Easter eggs is fine – just eat your individually wrapped prizes or treats afterwards.
CNN: Can unvaccinated children play together?
Wen: Outdoors, yes. If they are unable to maintain a distance of 1.8 m, the ideal is to use masks. There are a lot of fun outdoor activities, depending on your age – kicking balls, playing in jungle gyms, doing scavenger hunts, cycling and more.
CNN: Would the test help? Should people get tested before they get together?
Wen: If everyone who is meeting is fully vaccinated, there is no need to get tested. If people are spending time outdoors, with distance, the test is not necessary.
Let’s say that families with unvaccinated people want to meet inside the home. In theory, they could all quarantine – that is, reduce the risk as much as possible – for seven days before the meeting, get tested and, if negative, see each other at home. At this point, the holidays are so close that this quarantine and testing strategy is probably not practical. I would follow the advice above.
CNN: Should there be more caution because of the variants?
Wen: There are variants of concern that are circulating in many parts of the United States. The main variant that is spreading rapidly across the country is B.1.1.7, the variant originating in the United Kingdom which appears to be more transmissible and may be more lethal than the original Covid-19 strain. Still, the vaccines we have appear to be effective in protecting against it. And it still spreads the same way, as other strains of coronavirus, so the same public health measures – to mask, distance, avoid internal meetings and so on – are still effective as protection against this variant.
That said, because of these circulating variants, we must be extra careful. Unvaccinated people should not meet inside the home.
We are not far from the end of the pandemic. About 2 to 3 million people are being vaccinated daily in the United States. Let’s celebrate the holidays safely.