Many families have really good questions regarding the intersection between Delta/Omicron and the holiday season. I can’t answer your individual messages for a number of reasons. But I do understand that it’s incredibly difficult to navigate this landscape especially with a mutating virus. Just when we thought we had a good grasp, this darn thing changes.
I wish you and your family a safe and happy holiday. And I often find your pieces very valuable and insightful, so thank you for writing YLA. That said, I'm reading a lot of cognitive dissonance in this piece. You described a lot of reasons why travel/gathering in our current context is not a good idea. Then, you justify your own holiday plans with a quick, vague reference to mental health and individual risk calculus. But the one mental health survey you cited involves a lot more nuanced conclusions than simply "we should gather during the holiday to improve our mental health." And individual risk calculus is a lie privileged people keep telling themselves. The bottom line is that we cannot exit this pandemic individually, and you said as much ("We also know that infectious diseases violate the assumption of independence.") before launching into a confusing justification of your own individual choices. I understand a lot of us are tired and hurting; I think we can spare ourselves and our communities a lot more pain if we make sacrifices now, including forgoing holiday gatherings in order to stop community spread.
Thank you for your clear and helpful information. Between Andy Slavitt, my local public health officer and you I feel better equipped to navigate these challenging times. I hope that you and your family have a safe and joyful Christmas gathering with your family.
Can, or have you, done a post about the assumption of independence? I think a lot of people have a problem understating this as it relates to infectious diseases during a pandemic.
Do boosters matter yet? We have some family who are vaxxed but not boosted (and had J&J originally) and I can't decide whether to do a "normal" christmas visit with them or to require rapid tests (this would cause some drama).
On antigen tests, my family would need 12 tests and that adds nearly $200 to the budget. I know our health is invaluable! But is there any advice to reduce testing everyone? Just hoping.
Hello all, new subscriber and first time poster! yay!
The flow chart for how to do the Antigen testing seems to be designed for a short visit, because you could be testing in the 0-7 day portion of a 14 day incubation period where the viral load isn't high enough for either test type to detect. If that's the case then if the visit extends into or past the 8-14 day incubation period, you could have contagious family on your hands.
Is that a correct reading of the flow chart? I understand that is a worst case scenario, but want to make sure I'm following the flow chart, timeline of viral load, and detection capabilities of the antigen tests correctly. Thanks!
My daughter is 11, and is finally 2 weeks post 2nd vaccine. She's been waiting to attend scouting events until fully vaccinated. Their holiday party is tomorrow, and we just found out that the potluck portion will be indoors (I previously thought it was outdoors). If we are a fully vaccinated household and wear KN95s the whole time (not removing them or eating while there), is that considered safe at this point? She needs the social interaction so badly, but I don't want to put us in a risky COVID situation. It's a mixed group of vaccinated and unvaccinated, there is not rapid testing ahead of time.
Hi Katelyn. Thank you for the updates. I am a minister at a church in NY. Trying to keep folks safe, at least when they're in worship. We are planning a hybrid Christmas Eve service. All masked indoors, most vaxxed and boosted. Should we be spacing out and leaving windows open? Should we be meeting at all???
Is there any data yet on: how long the patients are contagious vs. delta/beta? How long the incubation period vs. delta/beta? How many days is the rapid negative while the PCR is still positive?
Gorgeous picture of you and your girls -- thank you for sharing, and for sharing your sensible, measured advice.
I wish you and your family a safe and happy holiday. And I often find your pieces very valuable and insightful, so thank you for writing YLA. That said, I'm reading a lot of cognitive dissonance in this piece. You described a lot of reasons why travel/gathering in our current context is not a good idea. Then, you justify your own holiday plans with a quick, vague reference to mental health and individual risk calculus. But the one mental health survey you cited involves a lot more nuanced conclusions than simply "we should gather during the holiday to improve our mental health." And individual risk calculus is a lie privileged people keep telling themselves. The bottom line is that we cannot exit this pandemic individually, and you said as much ("We also know that infectious diseases violate the assumption of independence.") before launching into a confusing justification of your own individual choices. I understand a lot of us are tired and hurting; I think we can spare ourselves and our communities a lot more pain if we make sacrifices now, including forgoing holiday gatherings in order to stop community spread.
Thank you for your clear and helpful information. Between Andy Slavitt, my local public health officer and you I feel better equipped to navigate these challenging times. I hope that you and your family have a safe and joyful Christmas gathering with your family.
Thank you so much for your guidance! Wishing you and your family a wonderful holiday.
Thanks for the advice, and the lovely pic of you and the girls. Happy Holidays! 😻
Fabulous - love the plan. Wishing you and yours a Happy Healthy Holiday!
Can, or have you, done a post about the assumption of independence? I think a lot of people have a problem understating this as it relates to infectious diseases during a pandemic.
Do boosters matter yet? We have some family who are vaxxed but not boosted (and had J&J originally) and I can't decide whether to do a "normal" christmas visit with them or to require rapid tests (this would cause some drama).
Thank you for sharing your plan. Have a safe journey!
On antigen tests, my family would need 12 tests and that adds nearly $200 to the budget. I know our health is invaluable! But is there any advice to reduce testing everyone? Just hoping.
Hello all, new subscriber and first time poster! yay!
The flow chart for how to do the Antigen testing seems to be designed for a short visit, because you could be testing in the 0-7 day portion of a 14 day incubation period where the viral load isn't high enough for either test type to detect. If that's the case then if the visit extends into or past the 8-14 day incubation period, you could have contagious family on your hands.
Is that a correct reading of the flow chart? I understand that is a worst case scenario, but want to make sure I'm following the flow chart, timeline of viral load, and detection capabilities of the antigen tests correctly. Thanks!
My daughter is 11, and is finally 2 weeks post 2nd vaccine. She's been waiting to attend scouting events until fully vaccinated. Their holiday party is tomorrow, and we just found out that the potluck portion will be indoors (I previously thought it was outdoors). If we are a fully vaccinated household and wear KN95s the whole time (not removing them or eating while there), is that considered safe at this point? She needs the social interaction so badly, but I don't want to put us in a risky COVID situation. It's a mixed group of vaccinated and unvaccinated, there is not rapid testing ahead of time.
Hi Katelyn. Thank you for the updates. I am a minister at a church in NY. Trying to keep folks safe, at least when they're in worship. We are planning a hybrid Christmas Eve service. All masked indoors, most vaxxed and boosted. Should we be spacing out and leaving windows open? Should we be meeting at all???
Thanks
Is there any data yet on: how long the patients are contagious vs. delta/beta? How long the incubation period vs. delta/beta? How many days is the rapid negative while the PCR is still positive?
Fantastic advice as it is realistic! Thank you for all you do!!!
how often would you rapid test for a multi-day gathering? every day?