Testing, Flu Shots, Staying Home: How to Have a Safe, Healthy Holiday Season

You’ve seen the headlines by now: we’re entering the high-risk holiday season just as COVID-19 cases are spiking all around the country. Unfortunately, New York City is no exception.

This means that as we feel that familiar urge to gather with our loved ones inside, we’ve got to keep up our collective guard.

New York City Health & Hospitals has released some tips on how to keep yourself and your loved ones safe over the holidays, including:

—Get tested frequently even if you don’t show symptoms, the better to prevent asymptomatic spread. You can look up your local testing sites here. Be aware that lines are longer than usual right now, so plan accordingly and bring reading material.

—If you haven’t already, get your flu shot! We’ve got a handy guide to Lower Manhattan locations right here. Seriously, even if you think, “I never get the flu” or “it wouldn’t be that serious for me,” get your flu shot. At the very least, you could save someone else’s life.

—Now comes the hard part: per Health & Hospitals, the city “is advising against all travel and against gatherings with people outside your household for the holidays this year.” That means staying put and having a pared down Thanksgiving over Zoom or with the people in your immediate household. If you’re forced to travel, the Health Department has guidance and best practices here.

You can find further health department holiday safety guidelines here, as well. 

In short, is this going to be the most fun Thanksgiving any of us will ever experience? Definitely not. But with a vaccine around the corner, we’re all for keeping each other healthy and safe and getting back to our regularly scheduled Turkey Day programming next year.