How to Celebrate Fourth of July Safely During a Pandemic

If you’re taking the risk of attending a Fourth of July cookout, there are some precautions you can take to protect yourself against contracting the coronavirus.

"There's this balance between, the kids want to see their grandparents, people want to be social, so doing it in the safest way possible really is the goal," said ER Doctor Eric Peña. 

The most important factor is keeping it small and staying outdoors.

"We're really making sure that 99% of the activity happens outdoors, in the open air," Peña said. "Because as we know it really reduces our risk of exposure." 

Every family invited to the gathering should have their own seating area, 6 feet away from other guests. When it comes to the food, limit the number of people touching or gathering around the dishes. 

"Everything we have is either individually wrapped or is going to have less communal touching," Peña said.

But what happens when you need to use the bathroom? Make sure to put on a mask before entering the house, and it’s a good idea to make sure there are individual disposable towels available so that guests aren’t sharing the same towel to dry their hands. Clean high-touch points with a disinfectant wipe. 

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