Experts warn that COVID-19 must change Thanksgiving. Will Pierce County listen?
It’s time to call grandma. Time to send a note on Facebook to your aunt and uncle.
If you haven’t already, it’s time to cancel those plans for a big Thanksgiving get-together.
While this depressing assessment might sound a bit harsh — or coldly unconcerned with the emotional impacts and lost holiday traditions — there’s really no other way to say it.
If Pierce County and the greater Puget Sound region hope to stem the tide of virus transmission and save lives, Thanksgiving — at least for one year — simply has to change.
Deep down you know it, I know it, and the experts know it.
The question now is simple:
Will enough of us listen to what the science and common sense are telling us this time? Because other major holidays in Pierce County — like the Fourth of July — have often been followed by a spike.
Tacoma-Pierce County Public Health Director Anthony Chen was one of many health officials to plead the case for renewed vigilance this week.
Speaking during a lengthy media briefing detailing the dire surge in COVID-19 cases across the state, Chen and others confirmed what should already be clear.
As has long been predicted, the grim fall has officially arrived. Washington is now reporting more COVID-19 cases than ever before, leading experts to sound the alarm.
In Pierce County — where hundreds have already died and thousands have tested positive — we’ve seen infection rates go “up dramatically” in recent weeks, Chen said Tuesday.
For perspective, Chen then noted that the county’s 14-day case rate per 100,000 people — 197 — is now 12 times higher than what it was in June, and four times higher than it was in September.
The following day, Pierce County set a new one-day high for confirmed cases, reporting a whopping 276, sure to only push the average higher.
Given the circumstances, Chen said we all need to “consciously” think about how we participate in Thanksgiving dinner or potential gatherings in the months to come.
He was being diplomatic, and would have been just as justified to say simply, “Don’t be selfish, or think you and the ones you love are immune to the risks of spreading COVID-19.”
Amid the warnings and calls to action, Chen also touched briefly on the way he has been personally affected by the pandemic.
While it’s his job to think about Pierce County’s health and well-being — and to be the public face of our collective response — he’s human, and has been forced to make difficult decisions, just like the rest of us.
The 58-year-old spoke of his father, who will turn 95 on Thanksgiving, and his mother, who has faced health challenges this year. He’d like to join them in person to celebrate on the holiday, but he knows every dinner guest only increases the risk.
“A COVID-19 infection would kill them,” Chen said bluntly, underscoring what’s at stake.
He’ll be staying home this year.
During the same media briefing, State Health Officer Dr. Kathy Lofy said that the number of cases is rising across the state and across age groups, indicating virus transmission is “very widespread in our communities.”
In other words, young and old alike, we all have a responsibility to take the pandemic seriously.
Later, Deputy Secretary of Health for COVID-19 Response Lacy Fehrenbach cut to the heart of the matter, highlighting a big reason for the recent spike.
“We know that folks are done with COVID,” Fehrenbach said, before warning that, even if we’re suffering from collective fatigue, the virus “isn’t yet done with us and it doesn’t take holidays.”
So what’s your best recipe for a successful Thanksgiving this year?
It won’t be easy, but — at the same time — the directions aren’t hard to follow.
Stay the heck home.
Significantly limit your contact with anyone outside where you live.
Wear a mask when you have to go out while maintaining at least six feet of distance from others.
And — for everyone’s sake — call off those big plans, because lives are depending on it.
“The safest Thanksgiving is one celebrated only with the people in your immediate household,” Fehrenbach wisely advised.
Only time — and future COVID-19 case counts — will tell if that’s a holiday sacrifice we’re willing to make.
