Over the last year, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been warning us to stay out of specific places to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Now that the pandemic has gone from bad to worse, and we are currently experiencing record levels of infections, hospitalizations, and even deaths, protecting ourselves as well as others has never been so crucial. So what places should be off limits, while the potentially deadly virus continues to spread? Read on to find out—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don’t miss these Sure Signs You’ve Already Had Coronavirus.
Fauci has reiterated time and again that bars and nightclubs are the riskiest places for the spread of COVID, and other governmental officials agree. They are generally the first type of businesses issued restrictions and temporary closures. “Close the bars and keep the schools open,” Fauci told ABC in November. “Let’s try to get the kids back, and let’s try to mitigate the things that maintain and just push the kind of community spread that we’re trying to avoid. And those are the things that you know well – the bars, the restaurants where you have capacity seating indoors without masks. Those are the things that drive the community spread – not the schools,” he said.”
While exercise is an important component of overall health, Dr. Fauci has urged the importance of staying out of shared workout spaces during the pandemic. According to a September CDC report, 7.8% of people who tested positive had been to the gym in the past two weeks, compared to 6.3% of those who tested negative. Why are your chances of becoming infected higher in gyms and fitness studios? Fauci has explained that when you exercise, you breathe more heavily and release respiratory droplets into the air. There is also the chance that you can spread or contact the virus by touching contaminated gym equipment that hasn’t been sanitized. Fauci himself opts to exercise outdoors, going for a jog and wearing a mask when others are around.
While Dr. Fauci is a huge fan of ordering takeout, he warns that dining inside of a restaurant is incredibly dangerous. “When you have restaurants indoors in a situation where you have a high degree of infection in the community, you’re not wearing masks, that’s a problem,” Dr. Fauci explained in a September interview.
Speaking of going places, avoid travelling. Dr. Fauci says that although airplanes have ventilation, you could catch COVID-19 from any number of places along the way, including in the airport itself. Once travelling does become safer, you may need a vaccine before going places, under a possible travel vaccine mandate. “Everything will be on the table for discussion,” Fauci, who will be chief medical adviser to President-elect Joe Biden, told Newsweek.
RELATED: Dr. Fauci Just Said When We’d Be Back to “Normal”
As for yourself, follow Fauci’s fundamentals and help end this surge, no matter where you live—wear a face mask, social distance, avoid large crowds, don’t go indoors with people you’re not sheltering with (especially in bars), practice good hand hygiene, get vaccinated when it becomes available to you, and to protect your life and the lives of others, don’t visit any of these 35 Places You’re Most Likely to Catch COVID.