They had the artsy, rustic venue, the tailored dress and a guest list including about 150 of their closest friends and family. But the pandemic had other plans, forcing Carly Chalmers and Mitchell Gauvin to make a difficult decision about their wedding – twice.

“Everything was changing,” said Chalmers, a Toronto-based marketing manager whose nuptials were originally planned for May 2020, two months after her province’s coronavirus lockdowns began. “In March 2020, it felt like every day something would happen that was kind of like another nail in the coffin for our wedding.”

The couple, who’d gotten engaged in 2018, quickly shifted gears, opting for a small wedding on their July dating anniversary in Chalmers’ parents’ backyard and rescheduling their big reception for May 2021. They ultimately canceled the latter, for good, in light of Ontario’s recent Covid-19 case surge.

Fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks or physically distance unless they’re on public transportation or they’re required to by local laws or businesses, the CDC announced May 13. Fully vaccinated people who are immunocompromised – or living with people who are immunocompromised – should still behave cautiously, since immune-weakening conditions make someone at higher risk for serious disease and death from Covid-19.

The CDC has continued to recommend that unvaccinated people wear masks and avoid large gatherings. Coronavirus spreads when infected people cough, sneeze or talk and others breathe in those droplets, and when coronavirus accumulates in, or flows through, the air. People can catch coronavirus on contaminated surfaces, too, but this is a much lower risk, according to the CDC.

That’s what makes weddings – particularly indoor ones – potentially risky. Lots of people possibly packed into the same area, talking, laughing, eating, drinking and dancing – maybe even hugging and kissing – creates an ideal environment for the virus to thrive. A high or increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the area where the event is happening – or in areas where guests are traveling from – only heightens that risk.

Original article: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/08/health/wedding-safety-covid-pandemic-wellness/index.html