WASHINGTON, Nov 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Millions of Americans defied Covid-19 guidelines to spend a subdued Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends.
About a million people were screened at US airports each day over the last
week, as many appeared bent on enjoying one of the country’s biggest annual celebrations.
The exodus came despite warnings that mass travel threatens to
significantly worsen the pandemic in the country hit hardest, with a six-
month high of more than 2,400 deaths registered in the US in just the past 24 hours.
President-elect Joe Biden offered a message of hope, however, in a
Thanksgiving video address that rallied Americans to pull together to defeat
the outbreak.
“I know better days are coming, I know how bright our future is. I know the
21st Century is going to be an American century,” he said.
Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, said he was expecting
“a surge superimposed upon a surge” caused by the big holiday getaway.
President Donald Trump, for his part, spent the day golfing at a course he
owns in Virginia, taking time out to attack Biden’s record-setting winning
vote count in the election earlier this month.
“Just saw the vote tabulations. There is NO WAY Biden got more than
80,000,000 votes!!! This was a 100% RIGGED ELECTION,” he fumed on Twitter.
Despite the burst of travel in America — still far below last year’s
Thanksgiving numbers — pandemic restrictions meant that there was a
resolute, stoical undercurrent to this year’s festivities.
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, a cherished tradition
nearly a century old featuring giant balloons and colorful floats, went ahead in a truncated made-for-TV celebration across just one city block, with no crowds and much of it pre-recorded.
Biden described how he normally travels to the New England coast for a big
family feast but would be staying home in Delaware this year for a small get-together.
“I know this isn’t the way many of us hoped we’d spend our holiday. We know that a small act of staying home is a gift to our fellow Americans,” he said in his video message, posted to social media.
On radio and TV, chefs have been making suggestions on scaling down meals for smaller gatherings, or even sharing bits of what they cook and leaving it on the doorstep of friends and family, so it at least feels like a shared meal.
America’s political divisions were evident.
Trump’s White House has urged “all Americans to gather, in homes and places of worship,” despite the health risk.
But Biden has been calling on people to hunker down and keep observing
health guidelines until a vaccine becomes available. — NNN-AGENCIES