CDC Holiday Guidelines Includes Dia de los Muertos Celebration

The CDC holiday guidelines that have been recently released on the U.S. Centers Disease Control and Prevention website includes guides for those who will be celebrating the Dia de Los Muertos.

The CDC holiday guidelines are hoped to help in averting the further spread of COVID-19 transmissions as the U.S. begins planning to celebrate fall and winter holidays.

One of the fall and winter holiday celebrations that is much awaited is the Dia de Los Muertos or The Day of the Dead. It is a Mexican holiday wherein families welcome back their dead relatives' souls for a brief reunion. The holiday is celebrated annually from October 31 to November 2.

While the Dia de Los Muertos is a Mexican tradition, it is also more often celebrated in the U.S. wherein families start gathering late on October 31 to celebrate their departed loved ones with feasts, altars, decorations, and cemetery visits.

While the CDC is not canceling the Dia de Los Muertos, it has identified high, moderate, and low-risk activities and alternatives listed on the CDC holiday guidelines.

Identified as high-risk activities should be avoided by attending large indoor celebrations with singing or chanting or taking part in crowded indoor gatherings. Events holding a large dinner party with people from different households coming from other geographic locations and imbibing in alcohol or drugs could also not encourage cloud judgment and increase risky behaviors.

These activities make it hard to do social distancing and impossible to maintain wearing masks; thus, they are labeled high risk.

Among the activities considered to have moderate risks on the CDC holiday guidelines done for the Dia de Los Muertos celebration is having a small group in an outdoor, open-air parade where people should be apart from each other for more than 6 feet.

Another is visiting and decorating the graves of loved ones but should be done with household members only. A 6 feet distance should also be observed with others who are also doing the same.

Hosting or attending a small dinner with local family and friends can also be done, but it should be held outdoors, and people should be distant 6 feet apart.

The CDC holiday guidelines also listed safe alternatives in celebrating the Dia de Los Muertos considered low-risk activities.

Preparing traditional family recipes for family and neighbors is considered a safe activity; just make sure that the food will be delivered with no contact or less contact with people.

Honoring the dead can also be done by playing the favorite music of the departed loved ones and decorating masks in the safety of homes or making an altar for the deceased.

Setting out pillows and blankets for the departed loved ones is another way of honoring them.

Joining a virtual get-together celebration would also be fun to try and very safe.

The CDC holiday guidelines are not meant to replace health and safety laws, rules, and regulations issued by any state, local, territory, or tribe, but they are designed as supplements.

CDC also warns that any person who is COVID-19 positive or may have been in contact with someone infected should refrain from joining any holiday celebration.

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