Thanksgiving is less than a week away, and people are looking forward to reuniting with family that they might not have been able to see last year.
But as people gather together, some precautions are still necessary to protect from the spread of COVID-19.
If people are coming over to your home, it’s perfectly reasonable to inquire as to their vaccination status, said Dr. Maria Raven, Chief of Emergency Medicine at UCSF and Vice Chair in the UCSF Department of Emergency Medicine on KCBS Radio’s "Ask an Expert" on Friday.
"The key thing to understand is that if you’re vaccinated, you’re pretty well protected, especially against as we know, hospitalization, severe illness, and death," Raven told KCBS Radio's Holly Quan and Matt Bigler.
"The people that I would worry the most about are the unvaccinated," she said. But regardless, "in order to have a healthy holiday," it’s best to know what everyone’s vaccination status is if they’re going to be there.
Even though it can make things a bit awkward, it’s best to be clear and direct. People can say something along the lines of: "We’re going to go ahead and require people that come over are vaccinated," said Raven.
"And you’re going to have to hope that your family members are honest with you," she said. People can also request proof of vaccination, but it also depends on how well they know the family member or friend.
If the host is close to that person, "that might be a little odd," she said.
Even if someone does contract COVID-19, as long as they are vaccinated and aren’t immunocompromised, it’s not going to be any more serious than an average cold.
But people do have very different comfort levels, Raven acknowledged. If in addition to proof of vaccination people also want guests to get tested, "That’s fine," she said. "I’ve been in both situations with family members."
Rapid tests can be tricky, in that they are accurate in detecting if people are infectious, but they aren’t always able to pick up on if someone is COVID-19 positive but aren’t "shedding a lot of virus," said Raven, and they aren’t likely to infect another person anyways.
Everyone also now has the opportunity to get boosted and have that "extra layer of immunity," said Raven. No matter where a person is traveling to, as long as they are vaccinated, they will be well protected.
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