Travelers pass by O’Hare International Airport ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Chicago, Ill., November 25, 2020.
Kamil Krzaczynski | Reuters
This year, compared to last year, fewer Americans plan to take precautions against Covid-19 when hosting or attending holiday gatherings, which signals a return to normal, now that 59% of the country is vaccinated against the virus.
Researchers at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center surveyed 2,042 adults nationwide from October 29 to November 1. Half of the respondents would ask about the vaccination status of their friends and family.
But the anti-vaccine and anti-mask sentiment isn’t necessarily to blame, said Dr. Iahn Gonsenhauser, survey representative and Chief Quality and Patent Safety Officer at Wexner Medical Center. Vaccinated Americans are also gradually becoming more comfortable seeing themselves without masks, and groups of fully vaccinated people can enjoy the holidays together “without any fundamental precautions,” he added.
“I was quite surprised to see that 51% are still considering asking participants to wear masks,” said Gonsenhauser. “I think we have seen the understanding and approach to risk reduction have changed, especially for a significant proportion of those vaccinated.”
Around 50% of those surveyed said they would not ask if their participants were vaccinated, while 54% of those surveyed said they would not ask unvaccinated guests to provide evidence of a negative Covid test. The challenges of running a test have made the public less likely to require a negative result from their participants, Gonsenhauser said.
U.S. health leaders urge Americans to get their vaccines and booster shots before the holidays after Covid cases hit an all-time high of more than 250,000 a day in the weeks following last Christmas. Gonsenhauser warned that a more severe wave of cases could flare up again after the holidays, fueled by the country’s around 60 million unvaccinated people.
In order to mitigate another outbreak, Gonsenhauser recommended that the celebrations be limited to those who were vaccinated. If this is not possible, according to Gonsenhauser, the hosts should demand that guests disclose their vaccination status and that their unvaccinated guests wear masks.
Researchers still found that 76% of attendees would ask attendees with Covid symptoms to avoid their gatherings, while 72% planned to celebrate exclusively with members of their own household. Those numbers decreased from 82% and 79% respectively in 2020.
With Thanksgiving around the corner, a further surge in infections begins in the US after almost three weeks of relatively low cases. According to a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University, the nationwide seven-day average of cases hit about 83,500 on Monday, up 14% from the previous week.
Vaccines are the “first step” in protecting against Covid this Christmas season and remain an effective shield against hospitalization and death, said Dr. Arturo Casadevall, Chair of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in an email to CNBC. He urged families to protect their at-risk relatives with vaccinations, adding that those showing symptoms of the disease should get tested for Covid before they gather for Thanksgiving.
“My advice to the unvaccinated is to get vaccinated immediately because even partial immunity at Thanksgiving dinner is better than no immunity,” wrote Casadevall. “Every family has to carry out a risk assessment.”
