I have been living in the U.S. for five years, so even if Thanksgiving is not my traditional celebration, I love it. Sadly, the ceremony would not be so warm this year.
Thanksgiving is always a special time of the year, especially in the U.S. It is the time for a family reunion, friends reunion, and homecoming. There is no better time in the year for the family than Thanksgiving. Usually, when I was living in the U.S., I and my friends would gather at my place and then we cooked something together for the celebration. After the ceremony, we would enjoy Black Friday.
However, this year’s holiday will be different. For the first time in history, one of the most important holidays for Westerners will be impacted strongly by the COVID-19. California and Pennsylvania recently have to declare a new restriction in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Leaders of those states also have to close some businesses or order shops to have different operation times. Officials recommend people to stay at home since the increase of coronavirus positive cases is severe. The tremendously damaging strike of coronavirus is harming a prestigious celebration of the year.
“I must again pull back the reins,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said as he had to restrict gathering more than 10 people. “It gives me no joy.”
California governor confessed that the new restriction is alike to “emergency brake” since they were trying to revive the economy after months of closing and social distancing.
The states eventually had to close some non-essential indoor shops and make wearing masks outside mandatory. California is in the top 3 states of the U.S. where people suffered from COVID-19 the most.
The situation can worsen since the protesting against Donald Trump has no sense of stopping soon. Former President denied transferring his power in peace to Joe Biden, and consequently, it led to the protesting against him.
Fortunately, Moderna and Pfizer confirmed that their vaccines are effective against the virus up to 94%, and the duet could help Americans relieve the pain of COVID-19 soon. According to these brands, the vaccine of COVID-19 could be introduced right before the end of 2020.
Nonetheless, leaders of states warned that people should be so careful with the holiday next week. Thanksgiving can be turned into a Byesgiving.
“We don’t really want to see mamaw at Thanksgiving and bury her by Christmas,” Dr. Mark Horned recommended that Americans needed to be careful with the celebration. “It’s going to happen. You’re going to say ‘Hi’ at Thanksgiving, ‘It was so great to see you,’ and you’re going to either be visiting by FaceTime in the ICU or planning a small funeral before Christmas.”
Former Vice President, Mike Pence, suggested that the U.S. would be well prepared against COVID-19 in any cases. “America has never been more prepared to combat this virus,” he said.
In the end, I just want to wish all of my American friends the best wish, but please remains in your mind that we all have to be well prepared against the virus. Thanksgiving, as I said earlier, could be turned into Byesgiving!
via Reuters, AP, and other resources