Duke expert: Holiday celebrations, college students' travel, return to campus creates 'perfect storm' for COVID case surge

Dr. Thomas Denny, Chief Operating Officer of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, reiterated that scientists are learning more about the omicron variant each day. The rise of omicron, believed to be more transmissible than other variants, comes at a time when more people are gathering indoors during the cold weather and celebrating the holidays.

Given that Thanksgiving was two weeks ago and Christmas and New Year's Eve are around the corner, Denny calls the situation "a perfect storm" of circumstances for omicron to become more prevalent in North Carolina. To compound the issue, college students will be returning to campus in January from holiday breaks.

"It’s a perfect storm in my view," Denny said. "It’s also going to bring challenges as we bring students back to campuses. We’re coming together as groups for the holiday season. In the process of all that, everyone is either traveling to or from a location ... I don’t see how we don’t see a high rate of omicron being present by the time we get to January."

Denny feels the suggested level of caution remains the same and recommended most of the points touted by the CDC since of the beginning of the pandemic, such as wearing masks and continuing to social distance. The increased transmissibility of omicron means masking up is even more important, according to Denny.

"This variant has thrown us a curve ball at the worst possible time," Denny said. "I think a lot of people are re-thinking how they will get together and what they will do. Every family has to decide what’s the norm for them; what they’re comfortable accepting.”

Some of the post-Thanksgiving impact on cases has already been noticeable in the state's figures. New numbers that came out Thursday showed 4,165 COVID cases in North Carolina, the most in one day since Oct. 9. Also concerning is the number of hospitalizations, which eclipsed 1,600 for the first time since Oct. 22.

"The short message here is make sure you’re vaccinated and make sure you get a boost as soon as you can, and follow all of the public health protection guidelines we talk about, such as masking and social distancing even more aggressively than you were doing it in the past six months."

As far as what to do if you're celebrating Christmas with your family, Denny says not to let your guard down and maybe limit hugs and getting close. If you're in a setting where not everyone is vaccinated, Denny said he'd think of not holding holiday gatherings.

"I think every family has to come to grips with an understanding of what they're willing to accept," Denny said. "I personally think the more masking we do, the better. At the holidays when we come together with families we tend to want to be close to each other and give hugs."

"I think, given with where we're at with omicron right now, that if we come together, perhaps we’re not as, you know, hugging and close to each other as we traditionally are around the holidays and try to provide a little bit of barrier there," Denny said. "Especially if people decide they don’t want to mask in indoor settings with their family."

Nearly all counties in North Carolina are still marked as red by the CDC to indicate high transmission of the virus.