Do not hold an in-person Christmas celebration this year. That’s the message epidemiologist Michael Osterholm shared on CNN Thursday morning. “I don’t care if I’m accused of being the Grinch that stole Christmas,” said Osterholm, a member of President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “But you know what? I want you to be around for the next Christmas and the next Christmas after that.”

He emphasized Americans should only gather with their immediate family or people in their “pod” who have no outside exposure. “So if your son and daughter are coming home from college, they’re not part of your pod. Either they quarantine for 10 to 14 days, or they’re not part of what happens in the holidays,” he said. “There is not a safe Christmas party in this country right now unless everybody for the previous 10-14 days were podded.” He also took issue with CDC guidance that advises people not to travel while providing advice for those traveling. He likened it to saying, “Don’t drive drunk, but if you do drive drunk, these are the best ways to do it.”