ATLANTA — The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its Thanksgiving coronavirus guidelines on Monday and Tuesday, warning against travel and recommending much smaller gatherings during the annual American tradition.
Thanksgiving travel is typically the nation’s busiest transportation day of the year. “Staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others,” the CDC said.
While the organization isn’t recommending canceling the holiday, it is recommending smaller dinners with people who live in single households; contact-free meal deliveries; virtual dinners; watching events on TV at home; and Black Friday and Cyber Monday online shopping only.
Moderate-risk activities are listed as small outdoor dinners and small outdoor sports events with safety precautions in place. High-risk activities are crowded stores, parades and large indoor gatherings.
The CDC said older adults and others at heightened risk of severe illness should avoid gathering with people outside their households.
Experts point to Canada, where Thanksgiving was celebrated Oct. 12. Clusters of cases tied to family gatherings followed. “This sucks. It really, really does,” Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said two weeks later.
Anyone traveling is urged to check travel restrictions, get a flu shot, wear a mask, wash your hands and practice social distancing, among other measures.
The U.S. surpassed 10 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus Monday, the same day President-elect Joe Biden urged all Americans to wear a mask in an effort to contain the pandemic’s spread.
Johns Hopkins University of Medicine has been tracking the pandemic’s spread over the globe. New daily confirmed cases are up more than 60% during the last two weeks, to an average of nearly 109,000 a day. Average daily cases are on the rise in 48 states.
The U.S. accounts for about one-fifth of the world’s nearly 51 million confirmed cases. U.S. coronavirus deaths are up 18% during the last two weeks, averaging 939 every day. The virus has now killed more than 238,000 Americans.