‘A viral Uzi’: experts on how Omicron changes the holidays for Americans

Nearly two years into the pandemic, Angela Rasmussen was looking forward to a more typical Christmas with her family. She was planning to fly from Canada back to the US, hoping that preventative measures would be enough to keep everyone safe.

And then Omicron hit.

Rassmussen, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan, isn’t worried about herself. She’s vaccinated and boosted, and she knows if she got sick, it’s very unlikely to be severe. But she has a two-year-old niece who is too young to get the vaccine, and older people in her family who could be vulnerable.

Tough choices on holiday plans

Like many people at this moment, she faced a tough choice. So she canceled her flight, and she plans to spend Christmas with friends nearby.

“I don’t want to contribute to further transmission of omicron,” said Rasmussen. “You really have to take that into consideration – not just your own individual risk, but their individual risk as well and the risk to others within your community.”

Americans were looking forward to the return of a more typical holiday season when the omicron variant turned everything on its head. Now many are scrambling to make new plans in light of the more transmissible and immune-evasive variant.

Omicron changes everything: a viral Uzi

“Omicron is a game-changer,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “As much as Covid has been an immense challenge, omicron takes it to a whole new level.” He called the new variant a “viral Uzi” for its rapid spread.

“Before omicron, I was very optimistic that this was fading away, but it threw us another curveball,” said Katelyn Jetelina, assistant professor of epidemiology with the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Yet more than 109 million Americans are expected to travel this holiday season, up 34% from last year and nearly at pre-pandemic levels, according to AAA. While some people are scaling back or canceling holiday plans altogether, others are trying to make existing plans a little safer.

Decisions based on limited information

As scientists scramble to understand the new variant, holiday celebrants are making decisions with limited information.

“This is not going to be just a scientific question,” Osterholm said. “Because we don’t have enough science to answer this with any clarity. This is going to be one’s personal choice of what’s the risk picture, and what can people tolerate?”

To be as safe as possible, experts recommend keeping gatherings small, limiting travel, getting vaccinated and boosted, wearing high-quality masks, getting tested, improving ventilation, and quarantining if possible.

“What people really should be thinking about here is putting as many layers of protection between themselves and the virus as possible,” Rasmussen said.

Communication is key. “The biggest thing is having a conversation and a plan before getting together,” Jetelina said. That way you’re not pulling into your grandparents’ driveway only to learn they ran out of rapid tests last month.

Plan for the most vulnerable person in the room

One rule of thumb is to plan for the most vulnerable person in the room, whether they are older, immune-compromised, or unable to be vaccinated. “I would take out all layers of protection if an immunocompromised family member was with us,” Jetelina said.

Osterholm thinks of it like this: “Who do we put at risk if we’re infected?”

Getting vaccinated and boosted is one important measure, even if it only provides partial protection in the next few days.

“The booster shot works much faster in terms of producing those high neutralizing antibody responses, and it really does significantly increase your neutralizing antibody titers within a couple of days of getting it,” Rasmussen said.

But keep in mind that children under 5 aren’t eligible for the shots yet. Kids under the age of one are at particularly high risk for developing serious illness. “As parents, we are our kids’ only advocate, and so there are hard stops for my family if other family members aren’t willing to do public health mitigation measures,” Jetelina said.

Masks remain a key tool

Masks are another important tool – especially high-quality, well-fitting masks, like an N95 or KF94. Rasmussen recommends wearing a pair of sunglasses or glasses with the mask; if they fog up, the mask is leaking around the edges too much. Double-masking can help stop some of that leaking.

Wearing masks is particularly important if you’re traveling by plane or train. “You should still keep the mask on the entire time,” Rasmussen said. But not just on the plane itself, she said – during “that Uber ride to the airport, hanging out in the airport waiting for your flight, especially when people are all gathering and clustering around at the gate.” This may be particularly true for your flight back, when rates of Covid may be higher.

Ventilate and test

At the get-together itself, ventilation is another key tool. “Crack the windows, get an air purifier that has either HEPA or MERV-13 filtration,” Rasmussen said.

PCR and rapid tests can also help, if you can find and afford them. The home tests should be used immediately before getting together, since infectiousness can change within hours. And keep in mind that “no test is perfect or infinitely sensitive,” Rasmussen said. “Just because you tested negative for a rapid test, that doesn’t mean you’re 100% safe.”

With the rise of the omicron variant, there have been preliminary reports of symptomatic people initially testing negative on rapid tests, Osterholm said – and they may still be transmitting the virus. “I don’t know how frequently that occurs,” he said, but “that’s a huge challenge” for understanding how infectious you may be.

Back out if you need to but accept a small risk

If you don’t feel safe gathering, especially if your family or friends aren’t willing to take precautions, “don’t feel shy about telling people that you just can’t make it,” Rasmussen said. “Don’t feel ashamed or uncomfortable setting firm boundaries about what you’re comfortable with and what risks you will tolerate.”

Every expert said they are going through the same risk calculations and trying to figure out the best plans for them and their families.

“If you’re all vaccinated, and use rapid tests and masks and put other mitigations into effect such as increasing ventilation and air filtration, then you’re safer, but it’s not completely safe,” Rasmussen said. “That said, we’re human beings, and we need to be around other human beings. So most people are willing to assume some level of risk.”

Prioritizing what is important can help you decide the level of risk you’re willing to accept, Jetelina said.

“For me, [sitting on] Santa’s lap isn’t important – my girls are too young for that. But seeing great-grandma is, so we’re gonna be extra careful before we see great-grandma.”