PRESIDENT Donald Trump is encouraging Americans to gather on Thanksgiving – despite the widespread threat of the deadly coronavirus.
In a White House Thanksgiving proclamation released on Wednesday, the president’s annual note called for people to “gather” for the holiday.
But health officials throughout the US have warned against celebrating with a large group or traveling this holiday season out of fears such gatherings could turn into superspreader events.
Despite this, Trump’s proclamation reads: “I encourage all Americans to gather, in homes and places of worship, to offer a prayer of thanks to God for our many blessings.”
According to data from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), more than one million people flew in the US on Wednesday.
That’s less than the 2,624,250 who flew on the same day last year, but still proves that people are traveling for Thanksgiving – and is the highest number of travelers since the pandemic started this year.
As of Thanksgiving morning, more than 13million Covid cases and over 268,000 virus-related deaths have been reported in the US.
People across the country have been encouraged to stay home and celebrate Thanksgiving with just their household or immediate family.
But millions of Americans have still traveled, whether by car or plane, to visit loved ones throughout the US.
Health officials fear that gatherings across the states will contribute to an even bigger surge in Covid cases than the country is seeing right now.
Experts think Thanksgiving could be the “mother of all superspreader events” after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned the vast majority of reported Covid-19 infections are missed.
Former White House medical team adviser Dr Jonathan Reiner warned that Thanksgiving could lead to a massive surge in infections.
“It’s potentially the mother of all superspreader events,” Reiner told CNN as North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin, Oregon, Maine, and Alaska reported record numbers of deaths on Tuesday.
“People [are] leaving from every airport in the United States, and carrying virus with them,” he said, citing the Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota this summer as an example.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court sided in a 5-4 ruling with religious groups over Covid restrictions put in place by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo that limited the number of people attending religious gatherings.
The nation’s top court ruled the restrictions violated the First Amendment.
As the country battles this deadly second wave, the daily death toll on Wednesday surged to 2,284 in the USA, according to The Covid Tracking Project – the highest level since May 7.
It was the second day in a row that more than 2,000 Americans have died; hospitalizations also reached single day record of 89,954 with a seven-day average of 84,840.
This disturbing news emerged after the CDC revealed that a whopping 53million people had contracted the virus two months ago – just under eight times the confirmed cases reported at the time.
The agency had previously estimated that one of every 10 infections were being missed
Their more recent calculation is supposed to paint a more accurate picture of how many people actually contracted the deadly virus since the pandemic hit the USA.
Of the 53million estimated infections, around 45million were sick at some point while about 2.4million patients were hospitalized.
On November 24, the CDC reported 12,498,734 cases of the new coronavirus – an uptick of 165,282 from its previous count.
Across the US, hospitals have been overwhelmed with Covid patients – with at least one medical center turning a parking lot into treatment areas.
Dr Anthony Fauci stressed the need to “hang in there a bit longer” on wearing masks, maintaining distance, and avoiding crowds – especially indoors.
“If we do those things, we’re going to get through it. So that’s my final plea before the holiday,” he said during an interview on Good Morning America.
