New Global Healthy Living Foundation Poll Shows COVID Safety Measures Still Necessary for 2022 Holiday Gatherings

Chronic Disease Community Feels Left Behind as Attitudes About the Pandemic Shift

Ahead of the holiday season, the Global Healthy Living Foundation polled members (n=802) of their COVID-19 Patient Support Program to understand how the evolving COVID-19 pandemic will impact plans among the chronic disease community to celebrate the holidays with family and friends. People living with chronic disease are at higher risk for COVID-19 infection or complications due to being immunocompromised by their condition or the medications that treat it. Even though 93 percent of respondents are up to date on all eligible COVID-19 vaccines or have taken pre-exposure prevention medicine, many patients are opting to isolate or plan smaller gatherings.

Key findings include:

• 25% will celebrate in person with their usual family and/or friends but take COVID-19 precautions
• 19% will celebrate with their household (no outside family or friends)
• 15% will celebrate in person with a smaller group than usual
• 5% will cancel usual holiday plans and celebrate alone
• 5% will celebrate virtually with family and/or friends

The Global Healthy Living Foundation is offering guidance to the chronic disease community and the people who support them to ensure that everyone can celebrate the festive season safely.

“Although the availability of the bivalent COVID-19 boosters should make holiday planning a little easier this year than the last two, people are still struggling to decide what is and isn’t okay to do. Adding to the confusion is that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not released suggestions for safely celebrating the holidays yet,” said Susan Jara, Associate Director, Patient Education, at the Global Healthy Living Foundation. “Our poll highlights that many people in the chronic disease community remain fearful about their risk for infection and, also, frustrated that attitudes about preventative measures are changing. In the free response sections of the poll, many reported feeling left behind as the general public resumes activities similar to pre-pandemic times.”

Available for Interview:

• The Global Healthy Living Foundation leadership regarding how and why the organization is educating and providing support to people living with chronic disease about their options for mitigating risk for COVID-19 infection.
• Members of the COVID-19 Patient Support Program to discuss how their holiday plans continue to be impacted by the pandemic.

About the Global Healthy Living Foundation

The Global Healthy Living Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life for people with chronic illnesses (such as arthritis, osteoporosis, migraine, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, and cardiovascular disease) by advocating for improved access to health care at the community, state, and federal levels, and amplifying education and awareness efforts within its social media framework. GHLF is also a staunch advocate for vaccines. The Global Healthy Living Foundation is the parent organization of CreakyJoints®, the international digital community for millions of arthritis patients and caregivers worldwide who seek education, support, activism, and patient-centered research in English and Spanish through our ArthritisPower® (ArthritisPower.org) Research Registry. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, GHLF started a Patient Support Program, informed by a patient council made up of people living with a wide range of chronic illnesses, that now serves more than 46,000 subscribers. Via CreakyJoints, GHLF also hosts PainSpot (PainSpot.org), a digital risk-assessment tool for musculoskeletal conditions and injuries, eRheum (eRheum.org), for telehealth and virtual-care support, and a constantly refreshed library of podcasts via the GHLF Podcast Network. Visit ghlf.org for more information.

Find us online:

Global Healthy Living Foundation: ghlf.org

CreakyJoints Canada: CreakyJoints.ca

CreakyJoints: CreakyJoints.org

CreakyJoints Español: CreakyJoints.org.es

CreakyJoints Australia: CreakyJoints.org.au

Facebook: facebook.com/CreakyJoints & facebook.com/GlobalHealthyLivingFoundation

Twitter: @GHLForg, @CreakyJoints, #CreakyChats

Instagram: @creaky_joints, @creakyjoints_aus, @creakyjoints_esp

TikTok: globalhealthylivingfnd

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/ghlf

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221114005701/en/