As the holiday season approaches, travel around the country will soon see a spike. In preparation for the holiday season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released a variety of guidelines to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. These guidelines can be found on the organization’s website.

“You can get COVID-19 during your travels,” said the CDC in a statement. “You may feel well and not have any symptoms, but you can still spread COVID-19 to others. You and your travel companions (including children) may spread COVID-19 to other people including your family, friends, and community for 14 days after you were exposed to the virus.”

In regards to Thanksgiving, the CDC has ranked various activities from low risk activities to high risk activities.

“Travel increases the chance of getting and spreading the virus that causes COVID-19,” states the CDC. “Staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others.” Included under the lower risk activities are dinners with only household family members and virtual dinners with extended family. Moderate risk activities include having outdoor dinners with family and community members while following the CDC’s recommendations for such events. Higher risk activities include large gatherings indoors with people outside your household or attending crowded parades.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues on, vaccines have been developed and shown to be effective. Pfizer is one of the corporations that have announced that their vaccine has been successful.

“We are grateful that the first global trial to reach the final efficacy analysis mark indicates that a high rate of protection against COVID-19 can be achieved very fast after the first 30 µg dose,” said Pfizer in a statement documenting their progress on their vaccine. It is important, however, to note that the Food and Drug Administration
has yet to approve these vaccines.

“Currently, there is no FDA-approved or authorized vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19,” said the FDA on the vaccine portion of their website. The proposed vaccines will have to go through FDA trials before it can be widely distributed. As cases go up for the disease, these vaccines provide some optimism for society as a whole.