![]() If you're in close contact with someone for more than 15 minutes, you're likelier to get sick. The "15-minute rule" was developed for contact tracers to reach out to people who may have been exposed to COVID. Whether you're having a wedding or BBQ, that might mean putting families together at the same table, rather than mixing them in with other guests, and spacing each table a few feet apart. Keeping a distance still helps enormously. There have also been times when people felt a bit off and stayed home from one of Majumder's events, only to test positive a day or two later – which meant they would have been contagious during the party.Īnd in addition to monitoring symptoms, Malani says, "if you add testing and vaccination to a low risk outdoor setting, the risk of COVID becomes manageable."ĭo the old rules of staying safe still apply once the event gets going? Rapid tests aren't always foolproof – sometimes you have a false negative – but they can be a very helpful layer of protection in addition to other precautions. But their status can change within hours, so if you take a rapid test in the morning, you could be contagious by night. Rapid tests are pretty good at telling someone whether they are positive and very contagious at that moment. Getting tested right before the event is key. She also keeps rapid tests on hand in case someone isn't able to test before they arrive. "There have been multiple instances where folks without symptoms have tested positive, so they've stayed home," says Majumder, who asks everyone to get rapid tested within an hour of her events. Majumder has thrown other events and parties with similar guidelines, and so far, she's not heard of anyone getting sick.Īnd for those who still think that you aren't contagious if you're not showing symptoms, a required pre-event test could surprise you. They also asked guests to stay home if they were feeling any symptoms.Īnd everyone agreed to take a rapid test right before the event. They reminded everyone to be up-to-date on vaccinations and boosters, which can help prevent transmission of the virus. Majumder helped her friend plan a wedding with about 100 attendees, and they have not heard of any resulting cases of COVID.įirst, they made sure everything was outdoors, including events that happen around the wedding – rehearsal dinners, happy hours and so on. ![]() With the July 4 weekend upon us and wedding season in full swing, experts answered frequently asked questions about staying safe while gathering outdoors with family and friends. "People are going to make judgments based on own level of risk and comfort," says Donald Milton, a professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of Maryland School of Public Health.īut, Majumder says, "that transmissibility can be drastically reduced by ensuring that an outdoor event doesn't get too crowded." That means having plenty of room for guests to move around – and making sure they are vaccinated, recently tested and symptom-free is also a very good idea, she says. is currently seeing may be in order – particularly if you are vulnerable or are in frequent contact with someone who is, say the experts interviewed for this story. So additional precautions during a surge like the one the U.S. That means activities that once seemed pretty safe are potentially riskier – and that includes outdoor activities.Īs Maimuna Majumder, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and a computational epidemiologist at Boston Children's Hospital, puts it, "the more transmissible a variant is indoors, the more transmissible it is in outdoor settings, too." Preeti Malani, an infectious diseases physician and a professor of medicine at the University of Michigan. "With the more transmissible variants, it's likely that shorter periods of close contact will result in transmission," says Dr. They are still, by far, the safest way to gather as the country continues to see high levels of cases and rising hospitalizations.īut "way less risky" is not "zero risk." There's still a chance of catching COVID even at an outdoor event - especially as the virus continues evolving to become more transmissible and to break through prior immunity from vaccination or earlier cases. ![]() Outdoor events are way less risky than indoor events when it comes to COVID. ![]() Print a poster version of this comic to hang up on your fridge or give away to friends.
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