Small gatherings like birthday parties, kitty parties, festivals are equally dangerous in spreading new covid infections.
In a USA study published in June 2021 in JAMA, using administrative health care data on 2.9 million households, with information on birthdays and COVID-19 diagnoses for each household member, it was found that the presence of a birthday within a household was associated with significantly greater COVID-19 diagnosis rates in those households in the 2 weeks after the birthdays.
Any event that is supposedly a small gathering is usually indoors, with known people and that is when the guards go down. We all think we know each other so well, not realising that even if one person has covid, it can spread to most of them for 2 reasons. First, due to improperly wearing the mask or even discarding it at times, and second, being indoors, a less well-ventilated place.
The learning here is:
- don’t underestimate a small gathering,
- the pandemic is still on,
- there are pockets of infection even if the daily new cases are low,
- be in a well-ventilated place
- wear mask diligently as it is your last line of defense – do not waste it!
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