Summer is often a time when people take trips and family vacations, but those make look different this year as COVID-19 continues to circulate. Washington County Public Health Director Danielle Pettit-Majewski shares some advice for those who are looking to get away for a little bit, “Number one, I would take a peak at what is happening wherever you’re planning to go. There are some, I think 22 or 23 states right now where they are starting to see their cases really spike. So, I would look at where you’re planning to visit and make a decision accordingly. I know, if you are going to fly I would encourage you to wear not only a face mask, but a face shield as well. Flying does have quite a bit of risk in terms of spread.”

She adds that people are still encouraged to practice social distancing with those outside of their household, wear face masks in public, clean and disinfect surfaces that are touched often, and wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

Pettit-Majewski says there are different risk levels with different activities, “Still, I know a lot of people have said, ‘You know, we’re going to go to like a B and B, like an Airbnb, and we’re going to get our groceries and just be on the lake kind of our family.’ Which is awesome, that’s probably one of the best ways to get away and still be able to socially distance and protect your family in that way. But I would definitely look at where you’re going and what is happening with the case counts in that particular area.”

As of noon Wednesday, Iowa has had 26,601 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 690 deaths. So far, 16,764 of those confirmed cases have recovered for a recovery rate of 63%.