Thanksgiving gatherings at this time would be unwise.  If one of your family members or you has COVID-19 you might not know it.  Not everyone has symptoms right away.  Someone could have gotten it the day before and you wouldn’t know it.  It would spread because you cannot have your masks on while eating.  It is not safe to see your family members at this time.

Having family members over for Thanksgiving might lead to lots of family members getting sick.  Someone could have it and come to your house with everyone else there.  Then they would get everyone sick.  Any of the family members there could go visit someone else.  This would spread COVID-19 further.  If you are exposed to someone who has COVID-19 for more than 15 minutes, you should have a test.  You should definitely not invite  your grandparents.  

“Among adults, the risk for severe illness from COVID-19 increases with age, with older adults at highest risk,” states the CDC. It would be hard to social distance while eating because many people might not have a big enough dinner table.

“There is no safe way to do it at this point,” states Ms. Ging, six grade teacher.  I would agree completely with that.  It would be a bummer for someone to get sick on Thanksgiving.  If you were to have Thanksgiving, it should be outside.  This isn’t going to be the only Thanksgiving there ever was, so you can just do it next year.

I think you should have Thanksgiving dinner this year on Nov. 26. Thanksgiving is about seeing your family and having fun! Everyone has been in their house for a long time now and you should get out and see your family for once! If any family member has or been in contact with someone with COVID-19 or if they have symptoms you can just hop on Facetime with them. 

It would be smart to wipe down everything with disinfectant wipes. If you have any space outside or in your backyard you can set up tables and chairs outside like my family did. If you have enough space outside you can spread the chairs apart. Spreading chairs 3-6 feet apart would be good. Before and after you eat you should wash your hands to kill germs on your hands. If you have anyone with underlying health conditions, they should not go to Thanksgiving. You can just Facetime with them.  With numbers rising, you need to have a mask on when you go grab food, when you are not six feet away from anyone, or if you go indoors. If you can I would recommend getting a COVID-19 test before you have Thanksgiving. 

Sixth grader Troy Reynolds agrees with me. 

“I think if you have Thanksgiving it should be with family and under 25 people,” said Reynolds. “I think Thanksgiving will be ok as long as you stay within the rules. I however do not know what my family is doing this year.”