Long Winter Ahead Is not Going to Be Fun.

• Position: CORONAVIRUS

With the coronavirus pandemic worsening again, the holidays are going to be a challenge this year, so William Manage, associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard University's School of Public Health, offers something of a survival guide for navigating travel, family gatherings, and other activities.

He says it is important to remember the advice we already have been given about limiting the size of gatherings, using masks, avoiding crowds, and sanitizing hands. He also urges people to keep in mind the importance of adequate ventilation, even if it means cracking open doors and windows when sitting down to a family dinner It may be somewhat cold in the room, but this is an opportunity to get out those fall sweaters we all like to wear."

Coronavirus transmission is heightened in poorly ventilated indoor spaces, where people are not distancing or using masks, Hanage notes. That explains recent outbreaks linked to restaurant dining and highlights the hazards of the holidays, when far-flung families gather for meats.

"We can see the way holidays have the potential to be a real serious problem in pandemic transmission," Hanage says. He offers this advice:

* Travel. Weteorning coBege students home for the holidays does not have to be a risky endeavor. Hanage indicates that some rnstitutions are doing a good job keeping outbreaks off campus and, when they do occur, stamping them out before they spread widely- The result is that some campuses have lower incidence of the disease than their surrounding communities.

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