How to Stop the Spread

As we gather for the holidays, and just in general, there are several things we can do to reduce the chance that we will be part of the ongoing and completely avoidable spread of COVID-19.

There are the ways I've written about in the past (https://funwithmacovid-19reporting.blogspot.com/2021/07/small-things-you-can-do-to-reduce.html, https://funwithmacovid-19reporting.blogspot.com/2020/12/how-to-avoid-covid-19.html):

• Wear a mask
• Be outside (ie, don't go inside with people other than your own household)
• Limit your network (including the networks of those in your network)
• Your network includes those in your network (ie, your friend's network is your network every time you visit with your friend)
• Be 6 feet apart (or further)
• Limit your time... note, it takes extremely little time to catch COVID-19 if you're not taking other precautions (studies have shown it can take less than 5 minutes) but the longer you spend engaging with someone who is spreading the COVID-19 virus, the more likely it is that you'll get infected.
• Be fully vaccinated... this means betting a booster when you're eligible for one.

Any one option is no where near eliminating the chance of spread, but will reduce it, and the more precautions you can layer on top of each other, the less chance of the virus getting through.  Think of it has multiplying you likelihood of spreading by a fraction... if you take a second precaution, your chance decreases and if you take a third precaution, your chance decreases even further.... and there's one more thing that you can do to reduce your risk of spread: get tested.

Getting tested gets complicated as you engage in more interactions.  Each time you engage in in-person activities, it sets a new clock for when you might test positive and have the potential to spread to others.  Generally speaking, you could test positive anytime 2-14 days after engaging with others... so if you're going to see people on December 15 and then see other people between then and December 29, you should get tested before the second visit... and again, each time you see people, it sets up a new potential and therefore you need extend the time that you should be testing prior to visiting.  And since you might test negative on December 17 and be spreading on December 18, you should get tested the same day as your visit.  Having members of your household engaging in their networks further complicates matters since them visiting with people sets a new potential clock for you that starts anytime 2-14 days after that visit.  If someone else in your household visits someone on December 15, they might spread to you any day December 17 through December 29 and therefore you could start spreading to others anytime from 2 days after the start of that window (December 17 + 2 = December 19) through 14 days after the last day of the window (December 29 + 14 = January 12).  Of course, you're less likely to become contagious on day 14 without having been contagious previously but there is still the potential.  This is why scheduling get-togethers at least 14 days apart reduces the need to get tested (it also is easier to remember because it's 2 weeks apart)).  Getting tested in the morning is not perfect (you could certainly become contagious later in the day after getting a negative and there's the potential of user-error on the test leading to a false-negative) but it is another option to add to the precautions you can take.

My suggestion would be to use any of the 3 of the 5 precautions below when seeing people for more than a couple minutes (4 or 5 if you can manage comfortably):

1. Wear. A. Mask. (properly: over your nose and tightly fitted)
2. Be outside
3. Be vaccinated
4. Stay six feet apart
5. Get tested the day of the encounter if you've potentially been exposed anytime in the last 14 days... including someone in your household potentially having been exposed in the last 28 days.

Please do your part to reduce the spread even if you yourself have low risk of significant issues... the more we spread, the more our hospitals fill up and the less preventative measures we can do for non-COVID-19 stuff.  Here's an example of how dire that can become: https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/alta-woman-who-had-surgery-delayed-now-has-terminal-cancer-experts-worry-about-substantial-backlog-1.5703262?fbclid=IwAR2rQyTGavM3NM_LKCoA4wtK4emcBmJAq2DwQqslvsJse2kQMLXNiBuH3rM

Stay safe. Stay informed. Stay protecting others. Stay aware that though your personal safety does not negate the spread you may cause.