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Texas Medical Association releases risk assessment chart for holiday activities

The chart includes everything from mailing letters to Santa to in-person Black Friday shopping.

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Medical Association (TMA) wants to help make it easier to know which holiday activities have the least COVID-19 risk. 

On Tuesday, the TMA COVID-19 Task Force and TMA Committee on Infectious Disease released a new "Know Your Risk This Holiday Season" chart ranking 34 holiday activities from least to most risky. The chart is a follow-up to the COVID-19 risk assessment chart the agency released over the summer.

"People are asking, 'How social can I be during the holidays? What is safe or not safe?'" said Dr. Ogechika Alozie with the TMA COVID-19 Task Force. "So, the Task Force really wanted to be diligent about calling out certain activities and give people a compass to guide their behavior."

The chart rates activities from 1 (least risk) to 10 (riskiest) assuming that participants would wear facial coverings when practical, maintain a safe social distance from people not in their household and wash their hands frequently.

Activities like online shopping, mailing a letter to Santa and viewing holiday lights in your car with your family are considered low risk. Ice skating, traveling by plane and taking photos with Santa are considered higher risk activities. And activities like hosting a holiday party, caroling with a group and celebrating New Year's Eve at a bar are considered high risk.

Austin Public Health also released risk-based holiday guidelines on Tuesday, many of which are similar to what the TMA chart shows.

WATCH: Ranking holiday activities based on COVID-19 risk

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