Americans are beginning their treks home for the Thanksgiving holiday this weekend, doing so in the face of uncertainty from political leadership and a surge in coronavirus case numbers, which have consistently reached new heights in November.
On Friday, the United States set a daily incidence record for the country of 195,542 confirmed new cases of the novel coronavirus, according to data compiled by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. That new high shattered the record set only the previous day before when the nation totaled just under 188,000 new cases.
Those numbers come as Americans hop on planes or pile in cars and make their way to see loved ones after months of on-again, off-again social distancing, changing local and state regulations, and weak guidance from federal authorities. On Thursday — when the US recorded a new daily incidence record that was then broken the next day — the CDC issued a “strong” warning telling people that the safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving was to do so only with the people they live with.
“Gatherings with family and friends who do not live with you can increase the chances of getting or spreading COVID-19 or the flu,” the CDC cautioned, while noting that more than 1 million COVID-19 cases were reported in the US in the previous seven days.
Still, that guidance came only a week before the Thanksgiving holiday, a known popular travel period every year, and after experts had been warning for months of a possible surge during winter, when those who choose to congregate would likely do so inside.
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