At a time when Americans are pondering how to celebrate Thanksgiving safely amid the country’s worst surge in coronavirus cases, many families will be faced with yet another complicating factor: the return home of students.
Public health experts are discouraging nonessential travel and gatherings of multiple households for Thanksgiving, fearing those activities may further spread a virus that has sickened more than 11.5 million and killed in excess of 251,000 in the U.S. On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended against traveling for Thanksgiving.
Colleges and universities have reported 252,000-plus cases since the pandemic began, according to a New York Times tracker. Returning students – whether they lived in dorms or off-campus housing in the fall term – “exponentially increase the risk (of infection),’’ especially if they take some form of mass transportation to get back home.
That’s the assessment of Dr. Teresa Bartlett, senior medical officer for the claims management firm Sedgwick, who advises companies about medical strategies and safety practices. Naturally, her work has been focused on the pandemic for the past several months.
Like other specialists in the field, Bartlett is concerned that holiday gatherings, combined with pandemic fatigue and the need to move indoors as the weather gets colder, will exacerbate what’s already a major national spike in COVID-19 cases. Read More
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CDC Pleads with Americans to Avoid Thanksgiving Travel
The COVID-19 coronavirus is a mindless virus. It is not going to take a break for Thanksgiving. It is not going to respect our desire to gather with family and friends for Thanksgiving. The COVID-19 coronavirus is going to spread and multiply wherever and whenever it can. When we dismiss the need for recommended safety measures, we are simply creating more opportunities for the virus to spread and multiply. We are behaving like the child whose parents warned him not to play with matches but ignored his parents' warning, struck a match, and set fire to the house.
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