BOISE, Idaho — Heading into the Labor Day weekend, Idaho public health officials are encouraging people to take COVID-19 prevention protocols seriously in order to prevent a surge in new cases as a result of holiday weekend get-togethers.
“We can’t emphasize enough that people need to look at what their plans are, and they need to act accordingly,“ said Brandon Atkins, Program Manager with Central District Health. “Think about where you are having that activity. Think about how you can limit that exposure risk. Spend time together outdoors, we really do have some beautiful weather and hopefully, it will stay that way this weekend. Let’s use that to our advantage.”
Of course, families want to get together for traditional holiday activities, but COVID-19 data shows that previous holiday weekends like the Fourth of July and Memorial Day were trouble spots.
“All of those things that have happened historically, our past holidays being good examples of that, have driven our case counts up," Atkins said. "We really want to make sure the message is people need to do more than what they have been doing over the last holidays."
During Idaho Gov. Brad Little's recent news conference, state epidemiologist Dr. Christine Hahn explained the data and reasoning behind the Labor Day COVID-19 concern.
“With the Labor Day weekend approaching, we are concerned that people will be gathering together more. There will be more chances for transmission, and we are very concerned,” Hahn said. “Most people that get infected, it’s by somebody they know well. It’s a household member or a family member at these small gatherings. That’s one reason why, at least in Ada County, they’ve restricted gathering sizes.”
It may be an inconvenience or be annoying, but masks and social distancing are still highly recommended for even small social events.
“We tend to let our guard down, we tend not to wear our masks, we tend to get closer to each other," Hahn said. "Every week we ask our local health departments, 'What are you seeing?' Over and over they say it’s family gatherings, it’s small gatherings. It’s one reason we are so concerned about the Labor Day weekend coming up."
With schools anxiously waiting to return to in-person classes and flu season quickly approaching, health officials say what happens over Labor Day weekend could set the tone heading into the fall.
“As far as making or breaking, if we get a huge population surge of more cases after this holiday weekend because people are just unwilling to participate in active social distancing or appropriate measures to help reduce risk, then going into flu season we are going to have exponentially more cases then we would need to see for all different types of respiratory illnesses,” Atkins said.
Health officials know friends and families want to get together over the weekend, but it is important to consider how to do that safely.
“Now is our time, we need to make that our priority, number one," Atkins said. "For as long as it takes."
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