Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's day two and thirty five since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Today's main story. The results of the US presidential election, in which coronavirus played a crucial role, are not yet clear. But it's not the only unanswered question. The country is staring down. Many are wondering how to make decisions about whether and how to see family and friends this holiday season. For that, at least, we have some answers. But first,
here's what happened in virus News today. Boris Johnson is pushing fresh coronavirus lockdown rules through the UK Parliament, facing down rebels in his own Conservative party. The country will close pubs, gyms and non essential shops in England and restrict social contact between households. The Prime Minister announced the month long measures on Saturday after data showed that the
pandemics spread exceeds worst case projections. Denmark has found a new strain of COVID nineteen in the country's mink population. An outbreak among the animals led to a mutation of the virus that might hamper efforts to develop a vaccine. Prime Minister Mette Frederickson said today that the discovery means the effect of a future vaccine could be weakened or undermined. Finally, one of the first states to receive rapid, low cost coronavirus tests from the US government is cautioning not to
use them on asymptomatic people. The Louisiana Department of Health said last week antigen tests like one from Abbott Laboratories can incorrectly return positive results in patients who don't show symptoms. The recommendations highlight issues with tests like Abbott's five dollar by Knacks. Now the Department of Health and Human Services is spending seven and fifty million dollars on the tests,
which were used in the White House. And now for today's main story, the holidays will not be business as usual this year. Instead of simply figuring out what to cook for Thanksgiving dinner, we have to consider things like who we can invite to dinner safely, or whether we should even be hosting a meal at all. So reporter Christen V. Brown has been collecting your questions around social distancing, etiquette and the holiday season to run by an expert. Here.
She is with more like many people I find the two months stretch between Halloween and New Year's Eve pretty stressful. Every year there is the question of where it has been Thanksgiving and what to get my impossible to shop for mother for Christmas. But this year things are especially complicated. I live in Brooklyn, New York, my nine year old grandmother, My mother, and the rest of my family lives in California,
and separating us is a long plane ride. I've been concerned that flying across the country this holiday season might contribute to a surge in cases as travel spikes. I feel forced to choose between making my family happy and doing what seems in the best interests of public health. That is a lot of pressure added to the holiday season. Our listeners had questions too, and we turn them over to Bertha Hildago. She's an epidemiologist at the University of
Alabama at Birmingham. Bertha says she has already been feeling lots of these sorts of questions from people. Then ideally, you would all want, you everyone who's going to be involved in this Thanksgiving or other holiday celebration, you would all want to quarantine for fourteen days, see each other for the gathering, and then people can go back to whatever it was that they were doing once they're no
longer together. But a lot of people are back to work, kids are in school in some places, and so that quarantine in advance for fourteen days is often really hard to achieve. She says. Other variables like whether you're traveling by car or plane, can further complicate this. Families that I know are opting simply not to get together for Thanksgiving this year because there's just too much to try and aligne between the people that they want to see
and gather with. But opting out of the holiday season altogether is unrealistic for many people. Everyone has different complicated holiday situations, and Bertha did have some advice on what can make these gatherings safer. It's worth noting that the CDC and many local governments have also issued their own guidelines for celebrating this time of year, including limiting the amount of time you spend together indoors. Our first listener
has a really good question. She wonders whether big family dinners are safe if everyone gets a COVID test beforehand. So you've got a family of eight and they're in different states and they are driving, um, not flying to to meet up for the holidays and they each get a test. Should they feel a sense of security in that or is that false sense of security actually posing
additional risks? Um so. So, basically the point of my question is what can we actually learn and derive from our tests as family members um coming from out of town and convening together in indoor spaces. Unfortunately, the answer to a lot of these is it depends because testing gets a little bit tricky. So I would say that testing for holiday gatherings is still very much um not
something that I would recommend. I would prefer to have people quarantine in advance, especially if where everyone is headed is within driving distance, and so I think there's just enough variability that I would not rely on testing. Yet, A big question is how we should all be behaving in the lead up to gathering with family and friends. One listener wonders how she can most safely prepare to host her elderly parents of driving distance away and they
have a separate place to stay here. My question is should I keep my two young kids, ages two and four, in preschool during this time or would it be safer to pull them out from preschool for two weeks prior to their visit. Um we live in a place for it will likely be too cold to do Thanksgiving dinner outside.
I would say that I'm sort of in the take zero to minimal risks camp when it comes to conversations about older individuals whom we know to be more susceptible to COVID nineteen, especially adverse effects of COVID nineteen, or individuals who are classified as vulnerable individuals um for a number of reasons covividit ease, etcetera. And so I would say that I would personally guess pull the kids if that is possible and feasible for the fourteen days prior
to this gathering. Another listener is a grandmother herself with health conditions that make her more vulnerable to the virus. She says visiting her family seems riskier now that her grandkids are back in school. I'm curious to find out what to do if I'm a seventy year old grandmother with a chronically low white blood count who wants to see her family of children who have gone back to school. So can I travel and visit them during the holidays when they were in the bubble? It didn't seem quite
so scary. What really matters, I think, is what's happening with the family that you are going to see, and and what's going to happen when you see that family. So is that family going to quarantine in advance so that when you arrive, they will have quarantine for fourteen days and there's no you know, zero to minimal risk that they have been exposed is to COVID nineteen during
that time. And if it's a short trip where you're just traveling thirty minutes and you're going to get to their house and you still don't know definitively that they have not had any exposures, then one safe way to do it would be to celebrate outdoors or have an outdoor visit where you're still distanced your masked, especially if you go indoors, like to use the bathroom or things
like that. UM. I know in some places with the weather as cold as it's s getty and and maybe even snow, that outdoors celebrations are going to be harder. In that situation gets a little tricky and difficult to say exactly what you should do, because ventilation in some places is really hard to change. In terms of, you know, being able to open windows or at doors, and so I think that it will just depend on where it is that you're going and how it is that you're
going to get there. School really seems to be a big complicating factor for the holidays. Yeah. Another caller wonders what to do about her college aged kids. My question is, I have two students who go to two different colleges, and I'm worried about bringing them home for Thanksgiving and winter break, and I don't know the correct protocol um how to handle that. So I'm wondering if I could
get some advice on that. What we have been recommending is that if possible, that you try and minimize as much personal contact close contact with the college kids upon arrival as possible. That would mean that you know, if they have to stay in your house, that they're some way that they can isolate within your house, that you're
increasing ventilation in your house. UM. You can also get them tested I would say two to four days after arrival in case there were any exposure during their travel, and UM then continue to adhere to that fourteen day quarantine if if possible. As well, For me, the bigger question hasn't just been what to do about the holidays? How long I can go without seeing my family? I saw my grandmother last February, just a few weeks before lockdowns began. If all of this goes on for another year,
do I go that long without seeing them? Or is there time to do it? That might be safer than Christmas. Bertha says she has been wrestling with the same thing. I completely empathize because my parents and sisters live in Los Angeles as well, and are in California and generally, and I'm in Alabama, so I have had this conversation with my husband for months now. It is a long flight where a protective mask and also protective I wear, if possible, a k if you're able to get your
hands on one. Um try to minimize removal of the mask during your time, both on the plane and elsewhere, and wash your hands when you're in the airport and upon arrival. Some research has shown that transmission on the actual airplane isn't all that bad, especially if people are wearing masks, but a plane ride has many other potential points of exposure, so if you do fly, Verta says it's probably better to not stay with your family and to see them outside if you can. I think it
just gets really tricky. I would say that unfortunately, I think a lot of people are going to still try and travel, and so I would maybe wait and pick a month where travel is less likely to be busy. So there you have it. If your family is gathering this Thanksgiving, Hanukah or Christmas, there are ways to make it, say for but the safest thing, as always is just staying home. Plus then no one has to worry about burning the turkey. That was Kristin V. Brown. And that's
it for our show today. For coverage of the outbreak from one and twenty bureaus around the world, visit Bloomberg dot com slash Coronavirus and if you like the show, please leave us a review and a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help more listeners find our global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is produced by tophra Forehez, Jordan Gospure, Magnus Hendrickson and me Laura Carlson. Today's main story was reported by Kristin V. Brown.
Original music by Leo Sidrin. Our editors are Rick Shine and Francesca Levi. Francesca Levi is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks for listening, Les,