"Let's get everyone vaccinated, make sure that no one with symptoms attends, and let's test ourselves that morning before we get together," Dr. William Schaffner tells Inside Edition.
Holiday travel is gaining steam, and doctors are urging everyone to be extra vigilant before those big family get-togethers.
"Let's get everyone vaccinated, make sure that no one with symptoms attends, and let's test ourselves that morning before we get together," Dr. William Schaffner, a professor who specializes in infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University, tells Inside Edition.
That warning comes as hospitals across the country are being pushed to the brink with an estimated 150,000 people currently being cared for.
Some hospitals are already at full capacity with COVID-19, flu and RSV patients.
This is leading some families to make changes to their traditional holiday gatherings.
Gabriella Ribero and her partner Peter Shankman usually hold big holiday dinners of 50 people or more, but this year she says smaller is safer.
"We've decided to make a bunch of different gatherings separately, smaller gatherings, and keeping people with younger children separate, that's a separate dinner," Ribero explains to Inside Edition. "And trying to do things with our parents, who are both a little bit older, trying to do things with them together and then spacing the gatherings out."
Medical experts are also advising people to seek medical treatment if they should start to experience shortness of breath, chest pain, an inability to walk more than a few steps.
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