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This article contains some really bad advice.
There's no need to cancel Thanksgiving...within your own household or quarantine pod. But "playing it safe" means canceling the holidays with relatives beyond that. https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-extended-family-thanksgiving-holidays-c2c70b22fecb16fc9d54ba2772e90662
There's no need to cancel Thanksgiving...within your own household or quarantine pod. But "playing it safe" means canceling the holidays with relatives beyond that. https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-extended-family-thanksgiving-holidays-c2c70b22fecb16fc9d54ba2772e90662
But I respectfully disagree with my state Deputy Secretary of Health here that it's okay to gather with extended family as long as distancing is observed while eating/unmasked and windows are opened. https://twitter.com/Thesciencevort1/status/1326154804763226112?s=20
In many places that will be decidedly uncomfortable due to the weather. New family traditions like hiking aren't going to be feasible in many places due to weather (including WA), and not everyone is able to do outdoor physical activities like that.
And I don't know about you, but in my family distancing will be impossible even though we all take precautions very seriously. We normally spend Thanksgiving watching football, mingling and socializing, and—in the last year—chasing my 1.5 year old niece around the house.
Being close to my family on the holidays, and human nature being what it is, it's hard to be vigilant about this when we normally are very close and holidays are a time to relax and not overthink our behavior among those that we love.
Last year, on Thanksgiving morning, my husband and I arrived to Seattle from Singapore after nearly three weeks in Asia. At Changi airport, I had a scratchy throat. By the time we landed at Sea-Tac, I was full blown sick with a nasty respiratory infection.
We offered to go straight back to our house in Seattle but my parents wouldn't hear of it, so I got some OTC cold medication and spent much of the day sleeping in my parents' guest room, but did emerge for dinner.
As someone who has been studying respiratory viruses since grad school, I took care to wash my hands, practice good etiquette, and stayed as distanced as possible from my family. I got sicker, my asthma was triggered, and ultimately had to go see a doctor to get prednisone.
In late February I wondered if I had SARS-CoV-2. We hadn't been to China but were at a bunch of tourist places like Angkor Wat where there were many travelers from China, or travelers who had likely transited through major transportation hubs in China including Wuhan.
After this, my parents reported mild GI issues they attributed to overdoing it at Thanksgiving. Uh oh, in retrospect. That's also a COVID symptom. Thanks to @florian_krammer, I later learned that I was seronegative, so probably not SARS-CoV-2.
My dad did develop a minor cold, so even in spite of taking precautions at Thanksgiving dinner, I still may have transmitted whatever I had to him. I'm glad it wasn't SARS-CoV-2, because he has pre-existing conditions that make him higher risk (as do I, being asthmatic).
It absolutely sucks not being able to spend the holidays with my immediate family outside my household. I am very close with them and we have a loving relationship. But none of us are able to do a full 14-day quarantine.
My kids can't do that, as they split time with us and their mom. This is our year with the kids, and obviously we want to spend the holidays with them too. So the solution we've all agreed on is to have drinks/snacks with them over Zoom.
In the AP piece, that's what @lindsleininger suggests. It's not ideal & in fact sucks. I want to be able to hug my niece, talk shit about the Cowboys from the couch with my dad & brother, & make the gravy (my usual Thanksgiving job) while sipping wine with my mom in the kitchen.
But I consider it an investment in future holidays. I'm willing to sacrifice in-person holidays this year for the sake of many more holidays to come. I know this is a hard ask this far into the pandemic. We are all suffering pandemic fatigue. We all are craving human connection.
But I can't abide my loved ones getting sick because we made a reckless decision based on what we want despite knowing it's a risk. I can't abide people outside our family getting sick because we couldn't suck it up and change our holiday plans for the greater good.
That's why I'm sad to miss the holidays but feel that ultimately it's the right decision for my family and for public health. This pandemic has cost us a lot, but I'd rather it cost us the holidays in exchange for the health and safety of the people I love and in our community.
In Canada, where community prevalence is much lower, rising cases are linked to Thanksgiving gatherings (which in Canada is celebrated in October). Holiday gatherings are a clear exposure risk, even when there's low community spread and people have been otherwise conscientious.
If you are planning a large gathering for Thanksgiving outside your household/quarantine pod, please reconsider for the sake of future holidays. Masks/distancing/ventilation won't be enough in many cases. Consider your family's health & the health of others in your community.
