Christmas is coming up, which is a usual time for family and friends to gather to celebrate the holiday together. However, plans may look different due to the continuing global public health pandemic.

Greene County Public Health Director Becky Wolf reminds everyone of the potential risk factors if planning a social gathering over Christmas. She says the higher risk factors for exposure to COVID-19 include gatherings of people outside of your immediate household, indoor gatherings with poor ventilation or no outside circulation and long time spans of being within six feet of others. Wolf advises limiting use of public transportation when traveling and time spent at public rest stops. 

“Those are places to be exposed to the virus, not only in the air around other people, but also on the surfaces that other people have touched. I think sometimes we forget about that. We get too comfortable just about (wearing) the mask, and it’s not all about the mask.”

Wolf suggests for hosts to set the “ground rules” for all the guests, so everyone knows how to interact and behave during the gathering.