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The Governor has issued some guidelines and recommendations for folks to follow this year during their Thanksgiving celebrations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Castle Country Radio was able to sit down with Southeast Utah Health Department Health Director, Brady Bradford to talk about some helpful hints to keep your family safe.

This year its all about keeping the number of people coming for dinner to a minimum and are strongly advised to wear masks during your celebrations. “We’re not use to wearing our masks with our familiars but this is the year to do it. I read an article yesterday that said if you’re going to do something like that it will be annoying to have a mask on during Thanksgiving this year but it will make next year that much more enjoyable because everyone will be there,” said Bradford. Anyone that is preparing the food should wear a mask at all times while cooking.

Those that are cooking this year are urged to take a few more precautions than usual. “We’ve heard this recommendation that we really limit the number that are preparing, even if they’re not all in the kitchen doing it at the same time, having fewer fingers in the pie so to speak, reduce the chances of some sort of cross-contamination for the people that will be eating it there. Not only from COVID but from potentially other food-borne diseases which is always a consideration,” said Bradford. It is advised that if you can prepare some dishes the day before to do so to eliminate the number of individuals in the kitchen at one time.

It’s not a bad idea to space out the seating area this year to keep to the social distancing recommendation. “A number of things that you can think about, spacing people correctly so maybe you have more tables than you would have so you’re not kind of jammed in there but still able to visit, assigned seating. We’ve seen some things about reducing the number of people that are in the kitchen preparing because those kitchens can get crowded as well,” said Bradford. Host outdoor rather than indoor gatherings as much as possible. Even outdoors, require guests to wear masks when not eating or drinking.

The Southeast Utah Health Department would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday.

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