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With the Decree 172 of December 18, 2020, the government has in fact authorized visits to people who do not live together during the Christmas holidays. The only limit is to be no more than two people per household (but as we know, children under 14 are excluded from the count). In short, Christmas lunch is safe. But rules are one thing, individual responsibility is another. The one that we are all called to fight against an insidious enemy like the coronavirus. Especially if our health and that of our loved ones is at stake. Therefore, if it is allowed to see each other and have lunch together, it is necessary to take into account the anti-contagion rules, especially in situations of greater risk. And Christmas lunch is definitely one of them.
As we have already explained in other articles, closed environments are ideal for the proliferation of Sars-The-2, but the possibility of avoiding contagion or not depends on several factors: the size of the room, the exposure time, the spacing, the masks and last but not least (yes) also the tone of voice. Obviously no one can imagine that during a Christmas lunch we are silent, but still it is good to know that singing or speaking in a booming voice greatly increases the chances of contagion. Notwithstanding the measures that we all know by heart, let’s see what are the 4 mistakes that you should not make to spend a safe Christmas.
Christmas 2020: how to avoid contagion if you host friends and family
Mistake number 1: are not environmentally friendly. To change the air, just open the windows for about 10 minutes every hour. It goes without saying that the places where we are most exposed to infection are those of small size and where there are numerous guests. It is up to each of us to act accordingly. Recently, the website of the German magazine Time He has done an interactive simulator with which it is possible to calculate the probabilities of contracting the infection by Sars-Cov-2 in a closed place. An example is a 25-square-meter room with 3.3-meter ceilings and six people speaking in a normal tone of voice without wearing protective gear.
Calculating a residence time of 5 hours, the possibility of being infected with a positive is in this case equal to 37%: essentially two people could contract Sars-Cov-2. With the windows slightly open, the percentage drops to 32%, while if we open them completely for 10 minutes every hour, the probability is 15%. With a mechanical ventilation system, the risk is reduced to only 6%.
Mistake number 2: sit a bit as it happens, without taking the necessary precautions. Giovanni Di Perri, Senior Lecturer in Infectious Diseases at the University of Turin, recently explained to “La Stampa” that it would be good to limit the event to people who already live together or have attended recently, but if lunch should be better Also make Cohabitants sit together and remember that “most infections occur through breathing, so windows and masks are the fundamental points to observe. It would be important, for example, to remove the Ffp2 just to eat, especially those over 65, put it back on hold between the different courses “. Maximum Andreoni, Scientific Director of the Italian Society for Infectious Diseases (Simit), explained today in Agorà, in Raitre, that “the table must be large enough to allow a distance of at least one meter or one and a half meters between people “. According to Andreoni also, “it would be good if the children did not sit near their grandparents”.
Mistake number 3. Don’t take the “time factor” into consideration. The longer you are exposed to the virus, the higher your risk of infection. For this reason, Andreoni’s advice is “not to linger” too long “and to stay seated as little as possible, or to eat faster, avoiding spending hours sitting around the table, as is often the case at Christmas.”
Mistake number 4. Exposing yourself to risky behaviors in the days leading up to lunch. It goes without saying that it is one thing to meet an elderly relative after being at home for 15 days, it is another to do so if they have been exposed on several occasions to the risk of contagion with reckless behavior. It is up to each of us to find the right balance: prudence is never too much.
