Is it safe to hang out with your friends as coronavirus quarantine ends in Miami?

As South Florida reopens after the coronavirus quarantine has lifted, there are certain things you can do in and around Miami as long as you keep social distancing in mind.

You can eat at a restaurant. Take a walk at parks and gardens around town. Stroll through Wynwood, the Design District or other shopping spots. Play tennis, golf or enjoy a day out on the boat.

But is it safe to invite your friends over?

You might think with restaurants and retail opening, having a dinner party at home is safe. After all, the City of Miami ended its curfew and shelter-in-place orders on May 20. Miami-Dade County recommends no gatherings with more than 10 people — which should mean six or eight people is OK.

But not so fast. A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that new information shows COVID-19 is not easily transmitted by touching surfaces and most likely transmitted when people come in close contact with each other.

So what does that mean for your gathering? It means it’s a risk, local doctors say.

“I understand after being isolated we need to see other people,” says Olveen Carrasquillo, chief of internal medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. “We’re social animals. My concern is that there’s still COVID out there in the community. The numbers are fluctuating in Miami-Dade because of delayed testing, but certainly we’re not risk-free having these activities.”

That threat means weighing the risks and taking precautions if you’re going to socialize at home.

“You have to use your head, and by that I mean you have to think about who is coming over and how are you going to have them over,” says Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious disease specialist and professor at Florida International University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. “Know the risk factors. These are people you trust to tell you the truth or you shouldn’t have them in your house. Then make decisions based on what you know.”

Marty uses the example of her mother, who is about to turn 82 and healthy but in the age range at risk for COVID-19. She has been home for more than 40 days and wants to get together with her friends, who are roughly the same age and have also self-isolated for more than 40 days. Her recommendation? That the friends get together outside, sitting spaced out (the CDC recommends a distance of six feet) and using masks if they aren’t sitting still.

Things get a little tougher when you introduce children into the mix, young kids not being the best at social distancing. Consider how isolated the children have been before allowing them near an elderly relative, Marty advises, and remember, erring on the side of social distance is never wrong.

Visiting households with people of multiple generations can also present challenges, especially if people are coming and going. The more someone in the home ventures out in public — a teen demanding to hang out with friends, a parent who has to go to work — the higher a risk it is to invite them to your house or to visit them at theirs.

When in doubt, stay outside.

“Backyard parties are what I would recommend, and stay spaced out,” says Marty, who plans to see some of her friends in a backyard setting. “And don’t go through the house if you can help it.”

Carrasquillo agrees that transmission is less likely outdoors but points out that Miami’s summer weather isn’t always conducive to that unless you have a pool. And even if you stay outside, you still need to consider every part of entertaining, from hand washing to what cups you’ll drink out of to how someone will use the bathroom (and how you’ll clean it afterward).

And everybody in Miami needs to reconsider hugging.

“I come from a Latin culture, and not giving someone a hug, well, those things are hard, but we need to do those things a little more carefully,” he says.

Carrasquillo advises his at-risk patients to wait a few weeks before getting together with friends and reminds everyone else that there is no risk-free way to socialize, even in your own home. He recommends following CDC guidelines, wearing a mask even if you’re inside and skipping larger gatherings for now.

“Seeing four friends is much better than seeing 12,” he says. “Each additional person brings you additional risk.”

This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 6:00 AM.