Thanksgiving in the US: Risky Family Reunion Trip

Despite clear reminders, many Americans have set out to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families. Experience has shown that the number of infections increases after such holidays.

By Peter Mücke, ARD-Studio New York

The US health authority CDC had warned: This year, Thanksgiving should only be celebrated at home and only with people from your own household. Although this is not a requirement, it is an “urgent recommendation”. One that many Americans have ignored, however.

In the past few days, US airports have recorded the highest number of passengers since the outbreak of the pandemic – even if, according to initial estimates, only about half as many people board the plane for Thanksgiving as last year. However, this year many switched to cars.

More important than Christmas

Thanksgiving is more important than Christmas for most Americans, especially after the months of lockdown in many parts of the country where many have refused to travel. Now they are setting out to meet parents, relatives and friends and eat the traditional turkey.

But it is precisely these meetings that caused the number of infections to skyrocket after Memorial Day in May, the national holiday of July 4th, after Labor Day in September and finally after Halloween. These holidays are rather negligible compared to Thanksgiving.

The parade will be broadcast on television

In New York, after all, they said goodbye to a tradition with a heavy heart. Where else in Manhattan tens of thousands had already gathered the night before on the four-kilometer route to see the spectacular Thanksgiving Parade, there is emptiness today. In the past 96 years, neither snow, rain and wind, nor the Great Depression had been able to prevent the traditional parade of people with giant helium balloons. The pandemic did it – at least largely.

Like so much in these Corona days, this year’s New York Thanksgiving Parade is a pure television event. “Let’s celebrate together – everyone at home,” says the Macy’s department store chain, which traditionally holds the parade. This year, the balloons with motifs from the comic world will not be pulled by people, but by special trucks. Just like the performances of musical stars, most of the moving images have been recorded in advance. The cut will then be broadcast on television.

Quick test before departure

Many New Yorkers will not watch this broadcast at home but with friends or relatives elsewhere in the United States. In the past few days, long queues have formed in front of the city’s medical practices and corona test centers. Sometimes people stood in line for hours to get tested again before the Thanksgiving trip began.

A deceptive security, because a negative result is always only a snapshot, warn experts. In addition, because of the long waiting times, many sit untested in the crowded planes and dining rooms of their relatives.

Governor sets bad example

Even those who usually admonish caution set a bad example. In a radio interview, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is also celebrated in the German media as a Corona crisis manager, announced that he had invited his mother and two of his daughters home for Thanksgiving.

When a wave of criticism hit him, he rowed back at a press conference and moved the relatives out of himself, moved: “If you love someone, tell them, ‘I love you so much that I won’t visit you this Thanksgiving will come. ‘”

Smaller turkeys – and corona fatigue

After almost nine months of the pandemic, many Americans don’t care about such appeals. At least on Thanksgiving. Even if the celebrations will be a little smaller – at least this year significantly smaller turkeys have been pre-ordered.

Meghan McGinty, civil protection specialist at Johns Hopkins University, says: “If we don’t keep our celebrations in our own household, the number of cases and hospital admissions will inevitably increase. Thanksgiving will be a crucial time.”