This year is an especially important year to be able to stress the history of Thanksgiving. Why? Because as children, we were taught that the pilgrims arrived to this sparkling new land and were greeted by Native Americans who fed them, taught them and then graciously handed their land over. In reality, we gave them diseases and a plethora of other issues that led to their downfall.
We are now almost a year into living through a pandemic and things have gotten nothing but worse. The exodus of college students leaving the place where their peers and maybe even themselves have not been taking this issue seriously is genuinely scary. I am grateful that my university offered testing to the student body before going home for the holidays but even then there is no gurantee those students are still following guidelines.
A pandemic is scary in general, but one that continues to get worse is even more nerve-wracking. I have seen people get sick left and right this year. I have seen my housemate lose her job. I have seen my friends lose their family. It is not something to take lightly in my opinion. In my case, I could be putting my little sister’s life at risk because she has an autoimmune disorder. I just do not see any reason to risk the life of those around me and even my own over eating a fancy dinner.
Around 40 percent of Americans are still intending on gathering for Thanksgiving according to a study released by the Washington Post, but in all reality it will most likely be more. In the same article, they leave it with a very important message: if this Thanksgiving becomes the super spreader event it is feared to be, the American medical system will receive a catastrophic hit. If you think your impact this Thanksgiving will be nothing, feel free to give the COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool a visit. You just might be surprised. Depending on where in the country you are going, there is almost a guarantee you will come into contact with at the least one COVID-19 positive person.
Instead, I will be spending my Thanksgiving working an 8 hour shift. This is equally not good to do during a pandemic, but alas I must pay rent. So while my family meets without me and all my housemates go home for the holiday break, I will be sticking it out here at school. Maybe for work this year I will put on an itchy sweater for the childhood Thanksgiving nostalgia, but I am not so sure I want to deal with that while I am yelled at by impatient customers getting mad at minimum wage employees forced to work on a holiday.
Just recently it was announced that to enter my home state of Pennsylvania, I would either need a negative COVID-19 test 72 hours or must complete a 14 day quarantine. So even if I wanted to go home I would not be able to financially in regards to getting a COVID-19 test, or realistically in regards to being able to quarantine in my home.
I cannot judge others for wanting to go home though. I understand the wanting to see your family and feel that normalcy. To them I say: be safe and be responsible, but please try not to travel this Thanksgiving. I will eat dinner alone this year, but I will be at peace knowing I will not be contributing the spread of COVID-19.
