COLUMBUS, Ohio — Last week, medical experts strongly encouraged families to be cautious when it came to seeing relatives or friends on Thanksgiving.
“Although people are trying to do the best that they can, they did travel for Thanksgiving, they saw people,” Dr. Leila Javidi said.
Leila Javidi is a doctor at Family Physicians in Gahanna.
As for the number of cases, she weighed in on where she believes they will go in the coming days and weeks.
“I think we’re going to see a significant rise in cases or a sustained level that we were seeing before that,” Dr. Javidi said.
If people did make the decision to see family or friends, even at a smaller gathering, she said there are certain things that are more safe than others. For example, if precautious were enforced and followed while inside, such as wearing a mask, social distancing and not eating near one another.
“You can’t beat yourself up, if you decided to make the decision and have Thanksgiving the best thing you can do is now say 'OK, now I’m going to be safe, now I’m going to wear my mask and assume that maybe I was exposed',” Dr. Javidi said.
Now say a family member or friend that was at the gathering tests positive in the next coming days.
“You need to quarantine for 14 days from the time of that exposure,” Dr. Javidi said.
If you start to develop symptoms, the doctor says to get tested and immediately tell anyone who was at the gathering so they can quarantine as well.
“I think that this is a lesson in how we should always be acting. I think we should always be taking precautions that we might have been exposed, especially if we’re coming into contact with people and exposing ourselves, which is without a mask for 15 minutes,” Dr. Javidi said.
She said any decision that is made in life is a risk.
“We have to keep in mind that nobody is telling you to be a perfect person, we all know there’s risks and benefits to everything we do,” Dr. Javidi said.
She said she understands most people are taking the virus and precautious seriously, but she also gets that people want to get back to living their lives.
“It’s very difficult to isolate yourself from your family for seven months,” Dr. Javidi said.
The doctor feels people are constantly going back and forth when making decisions.
“I think we are all kind of playing this game inside, like bargaining, but really it’s OK that we move forward, but we have to really be careful with the ways we choose to interact with each other,” Dr. Javidi said.
If that risk was made, some people may be feeling guilty.
“I don’t think it’s worth dwelling on and harping on, you know, did I make a huge mistake, it’s already in the past and every day is a new day to do a better job so we have that opportunity,” Dr. Javidi said.
As for Christmas coming up, she said conversations will be similar.
“I think Christmas is only 10 days from quarantining from right now,” Dr. Javidi said.
She’s hoping by that point, there will be a vaccine for healthcare workers and high-risk individuals.
“We don’t know if that’s going to happen exactly before the new year, but I do think it’s coming, that doesn’t change our risk at this point,” Dr. Javidi said.
Dr. Javidi said there’s no way they’ll be able to widely disseminate the virus enough to have herd immunity.
“Having the remorse from Thanksgiving may be an opportunity to plan better for Christmas and say OK, what’s the two-week mark before Christmas and how can I completely make sure I’m safe,” Dr. Javidi said.