Halloween, Thanksgiving In CT Amid COVID: CDC Updates Guidance

CONNECTICUT — If you are planning on decking halls and spinning dreidels this coming holiday season, federal health officials urge you to do it solo or with just the people in your home.

The latest guidance from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released Oct. 1, urges Americans to keep their distance during the end-of-year festivities.

"Attending gatherings to celebrate events and holidays increases your risk of getting and spreading COVID-19," according to the CDC's warning. "The safest way to celebrate is virtually, with people who live with you, or outside and at least 6 feet apart from others."

Instead of in-person celebrations, the CDC is recommending Americans get together online, watch virtual events, "drive or walk around your community to wave to neighbors from a safe distance," and even hold "virtual dance parties" in lieu of the real deal.

Outdoor celebrations, including trick-or-treating, have the green light, according to CDC director Rochelle Walensky.

"I wouldn’t necessarily go to a crowded Halloween party, but I think that we should be able to let our kids go trick-or-treating in small groups," Walensky said on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sept. 26.

Just Leave the Fruitcake Outside the Door, Thanks

If you are accustomed to bringing food to friends and neighbors over the holidays, the CDC recommends you go no further than their wreath. Food or gifts should be presented to family, friends, and neighbors "in a way that does not involve contact with others, such as leaving them at the door," the health officials said.

If your neighbors do let you inside, the CDC suggests opening doors and windows to boost air flow. People who are not fully vaccinated and aged 2 or older should wear a mask in indoor public places, the guidance recommends. In areas with high numbers of COVID-19 cases, the agency suggests wearing a mask in crowded outdoor settings, and for activities with close contact with others who are not fully vaccinated.

If you are unvaccinated and feeling sick, stay home, isolate and get tested if you develop symptoms.

The CDC recommends delaying travel until you are fully vaccinated, but has published domestic and international travel recommendations for unvaccinated people who must get out of Dodge over the holidays. Those traveling with unvaccinated people, such as children younger than 12 who are not eligible for vaccines, should follow recommendations for unvaccinated people and choose the safer travel options, according to the agency. Everyone, even people who are fully vaccinated, will still be required to wear a mask on public transportation.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it was "just too soon to tell," whether Americans should be clinking eggnog glasses beneath the mistletoe this year.

"We have to concentrate on continuing to get those numbers down and not try to jump ahead by weeks or months and say what we’re going to do at a particular time," Fauci told "Face the Nation" on Sunday.

Out of the 1,752 cases of COVID-19 recorded by the state Department of Public Health in the past seven days, 359, or 20.9 percent, were among residents who had already been completely vaccinated.

With 1,097 cases confirmed over the weekend, out of 61,112 tests taken, the daily positivity rate reported Monday afternoon was 1.8 percent, a drop of 0.36 percent.

Hospitalizations climbed four beds over the weekend. As of Monday, there are 241 residents being treated for the virus inside Connecticut hospitals.

Most of those hospitalized (92) are in Hartford County.

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