The coronavirus cases in the United States is surging out of control. This is the reason why the top public health agency in the US had pleaded with Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving and not to spend the holiday with people from outside of their household.
Thanksgiving preparations
On November 19, the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention or CDC warned the public about the dangers that may occur during Thanksgiving.
The White House coronavirus task force held a media briefing for the first time in months. The head of the task force, Vice President Mike Pence concluded that briefing by urging Americans not to travel this coming Thanksgiving.
The other members of the task force talked about the current progress being made in the development of the coronavirus vaccine, according to NBC News.
Alex Azar, the Health and Human Services Secretary said that pharmaceutical companies such as BioNTech and Pfizer will need emergency government approval for their coronavirus vaccine on November 20.
Infection disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci sought to reassure the public that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe while still encouraging the people to wear masks.
The Thanksgiving warning of the CDC was some of the firmest guidance yet from the government on curtailing holiday gatherings in an attempt to fight the coronavirus outbreak.
The CDC issued the recommendations just a week before the holiday, at a time when recorded infections, hospitalizations and deaths are increasing daily across the country, according to The Guardian.
In a lot of areas, the health care system is being overwhelmed by a combination of sick patients filling up the beds and medical workers falling sick themselves.
Dr. Erin Sauber-Schatz from the CDC stated that more than 1 million new cases in the country over the past week was the reason for CDC's new and firmer guidance. She said that the safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving in 2020 is at home with only the people from your household.
If families decide to include their returning military members and college students for Thanksgiving, the CDC is recommending that the hosts take precautions.
The gatherings should be done outdoors if possible, with people 6 feet away from each other. Masks should be worn and only one person should serve the food.
Whether the public heed the warning of the CDC is another matter. The deadly comeback by the coronavirus has been blamed in part on pandemic fatigue, or people getting tired of social distancing and wearing masks. After Memorial Day and July Fourth, the surges of cases were seen despite the warnings from health experts.
The United States has had more than 11 million coronavirus infections and over 250,000 deaths from the coronavirus, according to CNBC News.
CDC scientists believe that somewhere around 40% of people who are infected do not show any obvious symptoms but they can still spread the virus.
Non-COVID-19 cases
Another thing that is straining the health workers is the non-coronavirus cases. Hospitals are struggling to keep up with other medical issues like broken bones, heart attacks, accidents and more.
In Kansas, rural hospitals are running into difficulty trying to transfer their patients to larger hospitals to provide them with more advanced care.
The Mayo Clinic Health System in Wisconsin announced earlier this month that it was suspending elective medical procedures.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois noted that with COVID-19 patients claiming a quarter of the state's hospital beds, there are fewer resources for heart attack patients, cancer patients or expectant mothers.
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