It’s Thanksgiving 2020! Someone asked me “What good things have happened to you this year?” I will admit it took me a minute….okay several minutes to think about it and come up with an answer. This year has been….hard! But as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, it’s worth it to really acknowledge all of the good things that have happened in our lives this year, even in the midst of the pandemic.
Speaking of pandemic, Thanksgiving will be different for us this year and I hope it will be different for you too! It should be different, we are living in unprecedented times (I’m really starting to hate that term, by the way). While I love seeing family, sharing a good meal and loving on everyone during Thanksgiving, this year we just CANNOT do that. It is too dangerous. The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 is surging its way through our communities right now, looking for the next gathering or close encounter. It does not care that we are tired of social distancing, that we miss our friends and family or that we’re annoyed with masks. It doesn’t care that doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals are physically, mentally and emotionally drained by the sheer numbers of patients requiring our care. The virus does not care – so we have to care.
Here’s my plea to you: stay home. Have Thanksgiving with your immediate family and those who have already been in your pandemic pod. Set up a virtual meeting to see your extended family and friends. Don’t invite others over. Decline invitations that you are offered with a gracious “Not this year, but put me down for next year.”
If you must gather with others please
- Keep it small. And by small I mean 10 people or less
- Keep it outdoors – get patio heaters, blankets, fire pits, whatever you need to stay warm and stay outside.
- Keep individual households/pods separate from each other. Consider getting tents, tables and chairs for each household or pod to have their own area.
- Wear your mask. Keep it on the entire time unless you are eating, drinking or outside more than 6 feet away from anyone that is not in your pod.
- Don’t share food. Have each pod/household bring their own food. If you are sharing food, have only 1 person (masked and gloved) serving the food.
- Wash your hands frequently.
- Do not attend if you have any symptoms of anything, even if it’s “just allergies”
You may ask “What about covid testing? Won’t that help if everyone gets tested right before?” That is just one piece of the puzzle. It tells you that at the moment of the test, there was not enough of the virus present to register positive. However that doesn’t mean that there was no virus present. It could still be in the early pre-symptomatic phase, especially if you have been around others at work or in social situations. I have seen people with a negative test on Tuesday, turn around and have symptoms and a positive test on Friday. And in that case, everyone they interacted with from Tuesday through Friday is now at risk.
Not being with family on Thanksgiving is a tough pill to swallow, but I am thankful that help is on the way in the form of an effective vaccine. These unprecedented times will one day be behind us but, until then, we have to be smarter than the virus.
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