Vaccines and masks key to a safe holiday season, CDC says

Vaccines and masks key to a safe holiday season, CDC says

 

Masks and outdoor gatherings will still be the best way to make holiday gatherings safe this year, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in new guidance.    The CDC's top advice is for all those who are eligible to get the Covid-19 vaccine before traveling and getting together at the holidays. To protect children who aren't yet eligible to get the vaccine, the CDC recommends people around them get vaccinated.   Unvaccinated adults in the US face an 11 times higher risk of dying from Covid-19 than fully vaccinated individuals and a six times higher risk of testing positive for Covid-19, according to recent data from the CDC.    For public indoor settings, people should still wear masks, especially the unvaccinated, and in areas with high transmission of the virus.   Outdoors is still considered safer than indoors for gatherings. Families may want to take additional precautions before they get together, and get tested. The CDC also suggests people avoid crowded spaces before traveling.    "I think we're making some important progress in terms of increasing vaccinations, but the fact of the matter is there are still dangerous gaps in immunity throughout the country, and as long as that's the case, there are still pathways for the virus to spread," said Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.    By getting vaccinated and masking up, families have much better options than last year. Then, vaccines were only just starting to roll out and the CDC steered people away from traveling and gathering in person.