KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The New Year's holiday weekend is here, but safety concerns continue for health leaders as COVID-19 cases continue to increase in Kansas City and across the country.
"I think, generally speaking, that people are dealing with COVID fatigue, and when we get tired of dealing with something we just tend to dismiss it, but viruses just wait for us humans to relax our standards to take advantage,” said Ginny Boos, director of Infection Prevention at Saint Luke’s.
Right now, Kansas City hospitals are seeing an influx of patients battling COVID-19 and other seasonal respiratory illnesses.
As of Friday morning, and according to the Mid-America Regional Council database, there were less than 30% of hospital beds available in Kansas City.
“We really do need to think twice about what we're doing and the activities and the people that we are around,” Boos said.
If you have plans to celebrate the new year, Boos said to go get tested before and after your event, limit exposure with others if you’re celebrating indoors, get vaccinated and follow that by working from home if you can.
“Maybe after you attended the event it's those five days that you work from home so that in the event, you do get exposed and you come down with it, then you're not exposing anybody else,” Boos said.
If you’ve contracted COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control is now recommending you quarantine for five days contingent if symptoms improve.
