When it comes to getting sick with COVID-19, you might be thinking about this, and we have, too. Steven Rienes asked, What's the risk of going to see a fireworks display?"
We asked the experts: Dr. Frank Esper, a pediatric infectious diseases physician at Cleveland Clinic; Katie Cary, vice president of infection prevention for HCA Continental Division; and Dr. Irfan N. Hafiz, infectious disease physician and Northwest Region chief medical officer at Northwestern Medicine.
Their take: The risk of contracting COVID-19 from going to see a fireworks display is medium.
"As long as you're not in an overcrowded area. Now it is outdoors. So therein the weather's better, obviously, right now. So there you could be spread out if there was a large field or something like that and they could spread things out. I think that's certainly a possibility. Just looking at the crowding situations and what how how the your area is organizing a Fourth of July," Hafiz said.
" Also a lot of cities are hurting from the economic impact of this virus. As such fewer and fewer cities will be having fireworks displays. That means more and more people will be showing up to a very smaller number of fireworks. So you have to be wary and try to maintain your distance. Backyard, you know, fireworks, very similar, except, you know, you got to watch out for burn injuries and you got to watch out for blowing off your hand," Esper said.
"If it was your normal family that you are with every single day, that you are potentially social distancing with that, then that risk would be lower. But if you are with a whole bunch of people in very close proximity, not masking it would definitely be a higher risk," Cary said.
If you have a question about your risk, send us a video to whatstherisk@newsy.com. You can see answers to other questions here.
