Holiday celebrations during a pandemic [galería de fotos]

As the year 2020 draws to a close, Americans, like others around the world, are adjusting their holiday traditions due to health guidelines. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, people are showing ingenuity in spreading kindness and joy.

In America’s hospitals, from coast to coast, medical professionals put up colorful decorations to cheer up patients and staff alike.

This is medical staff member Anita Pandey, from the hospital United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, he holds up a Christmas decoration at the COVID-19 ward nursing station.

Americans are working hard to donate funds and food and volunteer their time to help feed neighbors in need during the holiday season. From the beginning of March to the end of October, US food banks distributed approximately 4.2 billion meals, according to “Feeding America”, A national network of food banks, food pantries, and meal programs.

On the left, boxes of food on pallets await distribution by volunteers from the Los Angeles Food Bank. On the right, volunteers carry food while drivers in their vehicles wait in line at the food bank.

With the pandemic putting many indoor theaters temporarily out of commission, drive-ins are making a comeback across the United States. Once-ubiquitous entertainment venues had all but disappeared in recent years, but are now re-emerging as controlled and socially distant places where moviegoers can safely enjoy movies on a big screen.

Here, a person in a Santa Claus costume hands out small gifts to moviegoers who watch a projection “Frozen”(A Frozen Adventure, The Kingdom of Ice) by Disney at the Santa Monica airport in California.

The United States Marine Corps Forces Reserve distributes toys to children whose parents cannot afford to buy gifts for them. Commander Bill Hendricks of the Marine Corps Forces Reserve launched the toy collection and distribution program in 1947 in Los Angeles. The effort was so successful that it quickly grew into a national program. Toys for Tots (Toys for the little ones).

Here, First Lady Melania Trump speaks to children while attending the annual “Toys for Tots”In Washington.

Many temples and churches collect food donated by parishioners and offer it to local food banks or distribute it directly to those in need. Often times, churches, synagogues and mosques in the United States operate their own food banks.

Here, people receive food at a New York City church that holds a weekly distribution event.

America’s shopping malls are finding safe ways to allow children to visit Santa Claus during the holidays. Santa Claus often greets children from behind a methacrylate screen or inside a transparent igloo. Thanks to computer technology, some Santa Claus are also making virtual tours.

Here, 20-year-old Jacky Guerrero holds her 2-year-old cousin, Panchito Vicente, as they visit Santa Claus (Ray Hamlett) behind a methacrylate display at a mall in Commerce, California.

–