Thanksgiving, one of the top two travel holidays in the U.S. is just weeks away. We know you can already smell Grandma’s good gravy and those amazing biscuits Uncle Tomas always brings. You haven’t seen your family since last Christmas and Skype just isn’t cutting it.
But this year, you need to stay home.
By Thanksgiving, even without the surge in travel, doctors are saying it’s likely that we’ll be seeing 100,000 new infections confirmed a day, with a rising death rate to match. New York State and Chicago are just two places with Emergency Travel Orders requiring visitors from places with rising COVID-19 numbers to self-quarantine, and fewer than ten states have a green light from them.
For more than six months now, we’ve seen headlines like “Eighteen infected after family party, two dead.” Every one of those articles is a short summary that glosses over a family that will never, ever recover from the trauma of knowing that their choices killed their loved ones.
Doctor Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, isn’t having a Thanksgiving with his adult children, who usually come home for the holiday every year. Neither is Doctor Alison Arwady, head of the Chicago Department of Public Health.
“I would encourage you,” said Arwady. “especially if you normally are getting together with people who are older or who have underlying health conditions – to think seriously about whether this is the year for travel.”
Doctors believe that most community spread of COVID-19 happens in small groups at home, between people who don’t wear masks or keep distance among themselves due to comfort and familiarity.
For those who do insist on celebrating the holiday as a family, doctors recommend each family unit eat in a separate room, and wear masks when they’re sharing space. If distancing isn’t possible, consider gathering in a different home.
Photo: Shutterstock