You do need to ask, rather than assume you know, your Thanksgiving guests’ COVID status

Rita Pavicic, of Kansas City, has a brother-in-law with health challenges and another relative who isn’t vaccinated. Could they both share her Thanksgiving table? No, she decided, feeling she had no choice but to ask the latter not to come.

She’s right, too: Better hurt feelings than an empty chair next year.

Another option, of course, is asking family and friends to test negative before coming.

Both of these are reasonable, necessary steps that health experts aren’t telling you to take. Instead, ahead of Thanksgiving, they are meekly advising vaccinations and masks, which we already know are vital. They must know in their hearts that’s not good enough.

For the safety of you and your loved ones, you should show the gumption that health officials no longer dare to and ask Thanksgiving invitees about their vaccination status beforehand. Even if you’re vaccinated, you may need to ask unvaccinated relatives to stay away for the sake of older, younger and more virus-vulnerable attendees.

On Thursday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment issued guidelines for holiday COVID-19 safety. In sum: Get vaccinated; get tested; wear a mask around the unvaccinated or in areas with high positivity rates; and plan travel according to regulations and transmission rates.

Dr. Adrienne Byrne, director of the Sedgwick County Health Department, does at least give this advice, too: “Breakthrough infections can occur after people are fully vaccinated. So if you’re feeling sick, stay home and ask for leftovers.”

Of course, anti-mask anger has too often threatened and intimidated health officers and elected officials as vaccine hesitancy has turned into vaccine antagonism. And the resulting timidity of officials puts the onus on you to keep yourself and your family safe.

Kansas and Missouri positivity rates have lurched back upward, to well over 8%. Johnson County, where the positivity rate has risen to 6.7%, is considered at high risk of community transmission.

What’s the sense of taking careful precautions for the better part of two years and then completely lowering our guard in the midst of another surge?

It’s difficult for families that may already be divided over political and social issues to know how to handle something as delicate as one’s COVID-19 vaccination status. Do the tough but smart thing this Thanksgiving and ask anyway.

This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 5:00 AM.