When and why you should wear a mask around family

NEW YORK - If you haven't seen your brothers, sisters, parents, nieces, or nephews in weeks or even months due to the coronavirus pandemic, should you trust that they've done all the right things and so you don't have to wear a mask around them? 

The answer all comes down to how much of a risk a group of relatives or close friends are willing to take, said Dr. Ronald Waldman, a professor at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. And the risk is high for people over age 65 and for people with underlying health conditions.

"I wouldn't expose my relatives to even the slightest risk in that circumstance," Waldman said.

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Unless you live together, you should be wearing masks and social distancing when visiting other family and friends.

"I think we're still in a dangerous time," Waldman said. "And I think there's still transmission taking place."

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Dr. Danielle Ompad, an epidemiologist and an associate professor at NYU School of Global Public Health, put it this way.

"The only way I would say you're not wearing a mask when you're meeting up with your family you don't live with is if everybody's been isolated on the same island in different abodes but there's nobody else on the island," she said.

In other words, always wear a mask when you are with family and friends you don't live with.

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"People are going to want to slack off a little bit at this point in time. They shouldn't but they will," Waldman said. "So I say, make darn sure that you can do that while running the absolutely least risk possible."

And just because the economy is reopening does not mean COVID-19 has disappeared.

The virus is "not even close to gone," Waldman said.