Ready or not, it is upon us: Planning for the holidays. While personal travel protocols have been upended by COVID-19, many among us will be driving home or flying home - or escaping from our own home - perhaps for the first time in many, many months.

If you must travel, The University of Texas Police at Houston (UT Police) is offering two opportunities to attend our Travel Safety classes during the month of November. 

"This Travel Safety course will address COVID guidance from our institutions (UTHealth and MD Anderson), but the main focus will be to provide attendees guidance on how to participate in your safety while travelling," said UT Police Community Outreach Officer Manuel Leston. "Attendees can expect to learn how to avoid travel scams and minimize your risk of becoming a potential victim of crime."

Leston will be instructing both courses and guiding attendees through a presentation of crime prevention tips.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has released guidance on travel during the pandemic, staying home is the best way to protect yourselves and others from the spread of COVID-19. Attendees should not consider the Travel Safety classes an endorsement to travel and should follow their respective institutional guidelines and monitor COVID-19 hotspots and trends.

For MD Anderson workforce members, this means reviewing the MD Anderson travel precautions, which have remained unchanged since June. Faculty, students and staff with UTHealth should check with their school leadership on travel guidance and review the UTHealth Guidelines and Updates on travel.

Join UT Police at noon or at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12 for Travel Safety.

Travel resources are also available on the Travel Safety page of the UT Police website.