| Medical experts are pleading with the public to avoid holiday parties this year, starting with Thanksgiving.
Here’s what they had to say, in their words:
“Look, the virus doesn’t care how much you love people. So let’s stay safe this year,” said Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor at George Washington University School of Medicine. “The good news is next Thanksgiving is going to be fabulous.”
“I want the American people to know that we are at a dire point in our fight with this virus by any measure: cases, positivity, hospitalizations, deaths. We’re seeing more Americans negatively impacted than ever before,” U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said. “I’m asking Americans — and begging you — hold on just a little bit longer. Keep Thanksgiving and the celebration small and smart this year.”
“It’s really terrible. And all you’re going to see is a week, two weeks from now, a huge increase in what’s already a horrendous spike,” said Dr. William Haseltine, a former Harvard Medical School professor and president of ACCESS Health International. “These people are infecting each other, and they’re going to infect the people that they’re having Thanksgiving with. And there will be consequences in terms of disease and death as a result of what you’re seeing today.”
Experts say infections and hospitalizations lag a couple of weeks behind the exposure, so illnesses caught during Thanksgiving are likely going to make for a devastating December across the U.S. |
