The holidays are coming up quickly and Thanksgiving is known for having big family gatherings, festivities and of course the traditional family dinner. But due to this year’s situation, will people be able be to enjoy their typical family Thanksgiving celebrations? Or is it too risky?

On Oct. 15 , Dr. Anthony Fauci of the White House coronavirus task force issued a warning that Thanksgiving gatherings can be a huge health risk. “When you have people coming in from out of town, gathering together in an indoor setting you don’t know what the status of it is. It is unfortunate because that’s such a sacred part of American tradition, the family gatherings around Thanksgiving but that is a risk,” Fauci said.

“I have heard about the warnings the CDC has given. I think it’s very wise especially with Black Friday and Christmas shopping that’s going around, but people still like to invite their family members and maybe that could be the only time they see them,” Sr. Brenda Martinez-Lopez said.

Traveling during Thanksgiving is risky because everyone is wanting to visit their family and celebrate together. Airplane travel is one of the most unsafe ways to go somewhere during a pandemic because it’s easy to spread germs and people from different parts of the country are in one space. Some states could have more cases than other states which could leave to easily transmitting germs to other people at the airport and on the airplanes.

Despite there being obvious reasons why traveling during the holiday is dangerous, people will likely decide to do it. But there are others who will decide not to do it to protect themselves and their family. Will you and your family be changing your plans this year due to the pandemic?

“I have heard of the concerns about large gatherings and so that’s why this year we aren’t going to have a large family gathering…it’s going to be a lot less people and a lot more intimate just to keep everyone safe,” Sr. Nijah Ndegwa said. “I am obviously going to change my ways during the holiday season with the warnings because you know the pandemic is going on and I wouldn’t like to get COVID-19…I won’t go to those big family celebrations and I won’t hold those big family celebrations,” said Sr. Brenda Martinez-Lopez.