Should You Skip Caroling This Year?

The Centers For Disease Control are asking people, when you get together with your family and friends this holiday season – avoid singing together! That means no holiday caroling!

The CDC’s recommendations say: “Encourage guests to avoid singing or shouting, especially indoors. Keep music levels down so people don’t have to shout or speak loudly to be heard.”

That’s because the act of singing generates significantly more respiratory droplets from the mouth and nose than talking. In fact, a study in Scientific Reports found powerful opera singers can expel up to 50 TIMES more droplets than people having a quiet conversation! And if a singer is infected with COVID-19, every one of those droplets has the potential to carry pathogens. Plus, the louder someone sings, the farther those droplets can fly. With singing, pathogens have been known to travel at least 12 feet.