Health experts are encouraging and warning Connecticut residents to stay vigilant as they head into the holidays as COVID -19 continues to plague the state.
"COVID-19 is very opportunistic virus and every time we give it an opportunity to spread it takes it," said Charles Brown, director of health for the Central Connecticut Health District. He's speaking out on the seriousness of the virus.
"Right now we’re still dealing with the surge from Thanksgiving," Brown said. "As we’re going into our Christmas holiday we’re concerned about additional gatherings on top of that because there’s still a very large amount of virus within the communities."
He fears that people will see the positivity rate minimally decrease from time to time and will begin to let down their guard.
"Daily they are going to fluctuate and it’s all a matter of the test we have out there and all that but we need to look at the trends overall," said Brown.
Experts are recommending minimal to no travel and that only small groups gather with only other individuals who are a part of their pod or quarantine team.
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When it comes to travel, AAA in Hartford predicts that there will be a 35% drop in year-end travel from Dec 23 through January 3. AAA expects air travel will be down 60% and auto down 31%.
In reference to gatherings, Dr. Kevin Dieckhaus, chief of the division of infectious diseases at UConn Health explained that if you are going to hold a gathering there’s some safe practices you ought to follow.
"Try to maintain the six foot distance wearing masking in the public areas of your house," said Dieckhaus.
"If you can have dinner time separated by family units so there’s a little bit of physical separation between family bubbles. You want to be able to have many Christmases to come with your extended family and you don’t want to be the one introducing COVID to the family unit."
