As Thanksgiving approaches, the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) is advising residents to take steps to ensure their health and safety this holiday season. The Department is urging residents to take precautions to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, such as flu, COVID-19, and RSV, which are expected to increase during the upcoming months.
“Thanksgiving is a wonderful day to gather with friends and family, and to reflect on the blessings in our lives,” said Dr. Jerry Larkin, Director of Health. “As always, we’re asking everyone to take a few additional steps to help themselves stay healthy.”
RIDOH recommends that people stay home if they are feeling sick and not host others until they are feeling better. If you are sick, stay home and away from others until your symptoms improve and you have not taken fever-reducing medicine for 24 hours. Then take added precautions for the next 5 days. **Regular handwashing, covering coughs and sneezes with your elbow or a tissue, and frequent disinfection of frequently touched surfaces are also important.
The Department is urging residents to ensure they are up to date on their vaccinations, including getting a flu shot if you are 6 months or older, getting vaccinated against COVID-19, and getting vaccinated against RSV if you are at high risk.
In related health news, RIDOH is advising that there will be a change in how COVID-19 and flu vaccines can be administered to children in pharmacies.
**Beginning January 1, 2025, pharmacists will only be able to administer flu vaccines to children 9 years and older and will no longer be able to administer COVID-19 vaccines to children. COVID-19 vaccine will only be able to be administered to children by a pediatrician or other non-pharmacy healthcare professional.
** This is because a federal law that allowed children to receive vaccines in pharmacies during the COVID-19 pandemic is expiring.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) assisted a What’sUpNewp journalist with the reporting included in this story.
