6 Safety Tips for a Healthy and Happy Holdiay

Fact checked by Nick Blackmer

Accidents and injuries aren’t ever in anyone’s holiday plans, but thousands of them—many preventable—happen every year.

“Planning ahead and taking precautions go a long way toward staying safe whether you are traveling or staying home,” Robert Emery, DrPH, Vice President of Safety, Health, Environment & Risk Management at UTHealth Houston, told Verywell.

There are safety considerations for the quintessential components of a holiday gathering: food, gifts, and decorations. But there are also travel, illness, and first aid pointers you should have top of mind just in case. Here’s what safety experts and emergency department physicians want you to know.

Choose Toys Wisely

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that in 2022, 11 deaths and over 145,500 emergency room visits were linked to toys made for children 12 years and younger. Most of the deaths were due to choking on small parts, and scooters accounted for the largest share of injuries.

As a result, the CPSC offers some specific advice for toy safety:

• Follow age guidance and other safety information on toy packaging and choose toys that match each child’s interests and abilities.

• Get safety gear, including helmets, for scooters and other riding toys–and make sure that children use them all the time.

• Once the gifts are open, throw away plastic wrappings and other packaging on toys before they become dangerous playthings.

• Keep small balls and toys with small parts away from children younger than age 3 and keep deflated balloons away from children younger than age 8.

Choking hazards take many forms, not just small parts. Toys with strings longer than seven inches can be a strangulation hazard, Joseph Perno, MD, Vice President of Medical Affairs at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, told Verywell.

Decorate Carefully

Home fires from decorations and candles peak in December, according to the American Red Cross. While the organization’s safety tips might seem like common sense (keeping candles away from kids and pets), consider these annual reminders to avoid a fire:

• Check all holiday light cords for breaks and fraying. Don’t string more than three strands of lights per extension cord. Too much wattage per cord can lead to a fire.

• Look for a fire-resistant label if you’re buying an artificial Christmas tree. Never use electric lights on metallic trees.

• Keep live trees watered, and purchase a tree that’s as fresh as possible. To test if the tree is fresh, bend the needles up and down to make sure minimal needles fall off.

• Keep trees of all kinds away from heat sources.

Prep and Store Food Safely

Pay attention to food safety warnings and recalls prior to purchasing food for a party or eating food at events you attend. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is currently advising people not to eat certain brands of pre-cut cantaloupe because it is contaminated with salmonella bacteria. So far, the outbreak has affected 38 states and caused over 200 illnesses and three deaths. 

Signs of Salmonellosis

Call your healthcare provider if you experience signs of severe salmonellosis, the infection causes by the salmonella bacteria, which can include:

• Fever higher than 102 degrees

• Diarrhea for more than 3 days

• Bloody diarrhea

• Vomiting and inability to keep liquids down

• Infrequent urination

• Dry mouth and dry throat

• Dizziness upon standing

Proper food storage is important when it comes to preventing illness, too.

“We see lots of people in the emergency room every year with severe stomach upset. It’s often from eating foods that don’t agree with them, but also from food that sat in the car or on the buffet for too long without refrigeration,” Avir Mitra, MD, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, told Verywell.

Mitra advises travelers, guests, and hosts to follow CDC guidelines for keeping food fresh. He suggests preparing a number of small platters and dishes ahead of time and replacing the serving dishes with fresh ones throughout the party. For cold foods like vegetables or cheeses, store cold backup dishes in the refrigerator. For warm perishable dishes, consider keeping hot dishes in the oven set at 200 degrees to 250 degrees.

Food safety extends to watching what you eat, especially if your doctor’s guidance involves limiting certain foods, Mitra added. 

“Every year during the holidays, we see people in the emergency room who’ve had too much sodium during festive meals, which can cause a spike in blood pressure or cardiac issues,” he said.

Stock Medications Preventatively

Though it’s difficult to talk about and unpleasant to anticipate, holidays and tense family dynamics can lead to increased use of opioid painkillers and illicit drugs, according to experts at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers. In November, the organization held a reporters’ briefing to express the importance of having a drug called Narcan (naloxone) on hand ahead of the holidays in order to reverse opioid overdose and potentially save a life.

Takeaway

Narcan is a temporary treatment administered as a nasal spray, and 911 should always be called when it is used.

This is the first year that Narcan can be purchased without a prescription thanks to the FDA approval of OTC brands of the drug. You can buy it in every state both in pharmacies and online for about $45.

There’s good reason to consider buying Narcan: deaths from opioids more than doubled from January 2015 to January 2023, according to federal data.

Related: How to Use Narcan to Reverse an Opioid Overdose

Treat COVID Quickly

Now that COVID-19 is nearly four years old, treatments exist and are readily available to nip it in the bud if you are eligible. Two examples are Paxlovid and Lagevrio, antivirals used to slow the progression of the disease in people with moderate/mild COVID-19 who are at high risk for developing severe COVID-19.

Related: Molnupiravir vs. Paxlovid: Which Is Better for COVID-19?

These prescriptions require a prescription. You’ll need to show proof of a positive COVID test and to meet with a provider or pharmacist in order to receive medication.

A program called Home Test to Treat, run through the National Institutes of Health, offers free COVID and flu tests, free telehealth appointments, and free medication sent overnight for people who are underinsured, people on Medicare or Medicaid, and people with healthcare through the Veteran Health Administration.

If you have private insurance, you can’t sign up for the program’s free tests, but you can contact the program after you’ve tested positive. From there, you’ll still be eligible for a free telehealth appointment and free COVID and flu medication if needed.

Read the original article on Verywell Health.