Is the 6-foot social distancing rule a myth?

This holiday season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging Americans to celebrate safely to reduce the spread of COVID-19 as U.S. cases and deaths continue to rise. In this episode of “Fact vs. Fiction,” Yahoo News Medical Contributor Dr. Dara Kass discusses whether the 6-foot social distancing guideline is a myth and what you can do to keep you, your family and friends safe during this unprecedented holiday season.

Video transcript

DARA KASS: So as we head into holiday season, everybody asks me, what is the best way to gather indoors? What exactly does the six feet mean? Exactly where do you start counting six feet from when and who? How far do I have to sit with somebody to eat inside? Is eating OK if I'm outside? And does the six feet apply?

So the CDC currently recommends that you put six feet between you and another person that you're trying to not get or give coronavirus to. And ideally, you would both be masked. Now, that number comes from the general average of how far respiratory droplets would fall between one person and another. So if you're outside, they would fly a little bit less far, and if you're inside, they could fly further with ventilation and other issues.

But remember that all of that is about how far droplets can get from one person to the other. So the more barriers we put in for those respiratory droplets to be transferred, the better chance we have at not transmitting this virus. But of course, we're going to find a virus that transmits further than the six feet, and people are going to be safe sometimes less than six feet, especially very little people, like children.

But as it stands, the general recommendation is if you are six feet or more apart from somebody, you are unlikely to see the spread of one person's respiratory droplets to another's. Very recently, a lot of people started asking me about this South Korean study where a person was in a restaurant and was 20 feet from another person but was infected in less than five minutes. What does that mean?

What it really means is that when you are unmasked in any space, you're at risk to be exposed or to transmit this coronavirus. It also means that restaurants where people are unmasked, often speaking and eating, provide the highest risk environment for spread of the virus at this point when the virus is basically everywhere. So the CDC is currently saying, please, don't gather this holiday with anybody outside of your immediate household.

And that means not your neighbors, not your parents, not your children-- because even if you know somebody really, really well, they can still give you the coronavirus. We're seeing it when gatherings happen more than four people, 10 people, more than that in a space with masks off, often over food or drink.

Unfortunately, we're so close to the end of this pandemic, we have the vaccine. But that's not going to stop the spread at these indoor dining experiences. I cannot stress this enough-- there is no way to test yourself right before an event and go and feel like you're gathering safely.

I have seen numerous people this week the coronavirus negative before a dinner, a party, some sort of drinks together, and then find out the next day or the day after that that somebody in their party was coronavirus positive. And now everybody at that dinner party, unfortunately, has coronavirus. It's just not a perfect strategy. There isn't a way to test yourself out of a single event or dinner.

Bottom line-- six feet is not a myth, but it is actually just a best guess. And what it really means is there are no guarantees. We need to be extra smart this holiday season, and that means put every barrier between you and somebody that is in your household to stop the transmission of this virus.

It means stay at least six feet apart, please don't eat indoors with somebody not in your immediate household, please mask up if you're ever indoors with anybody for any reason, and keep that mask on. And if you're sick or unwell, please get tested as soon as possible, and tell everybody you saw 48 hours before that positive test that they need to quarantine themselves too.

This is going to be a hard winter filled with holidays we're just not going to celebrate like we have done before. Please, be strong with us. We can get through this.