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Facing The Decisions Of Adjusting Thanksgiving Holiday Plans As Coronavirus Cases Continue To Surge

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The number of new Coronavirus cases continues to be startling on a daily basis with no immediate end in sight.

So what's going to turn the tide and are you adjusting your Thanksgiving plans?

CBS Medical Expert Dr. David Agus from the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine says its critical to scale down family gatherings. "The problem is grandma, grandpa. The people with medical conditions are very high risk for complications. And so we have to respect that."

And on Grant Street, the people we came across are trimming their plans.

  • "I will still spend Thanksgiving at my mother's house with my immediate family,"
  • "Well, we're just not getting together with our huge group of family that we normally do, they usually fly in and this year they're not. Everybody's just staying staying home and it's kind of like just a family dinner."
  • And one woman said, "I'm just gonna celebrate with my immediate family. No large family gatherings. Just a little group, but I'd rather be safe than sorry."

Dr. Agus says even if you are gathering in a small group if it involves anyone outside your household, "Maybe, you know, social distance with a mask while you're talking, or maybe being in a very large group, as we're not getting together, doing it by Zoom is worth it, Because we're going to keep our loved ones alive and healthy for many years to come. So please, short term pain for long term gain we have to think like that."

But Thanksgiving is only part of the concern.

The numbers climbing is prompting many areas to clamp down with fresh restrictions.

Watch as KDKA's John Shumway reports:

 

These folks on Grant Street don't want anything to do with a new shutdown.

"No, I feel like that destroys our economy and I feel bad for our businesses, especially restaurants and gyms, things like that."

Another woman is concerned, "Wait and see, if it gets to that point I guess that might be the best."

But one man says any type of a shutdown should be a last resort only, "There's too many other consequences to that, that are starting to discover, you know, suicides, abuse, alcoholism, all that. But everyone needs to just, you know, common sense, mask, Hand sanitizer."

A common plea from our neighbors, " I just wish everybody on their own would just, you know, stay home, don't travel, wear the mask."

Dr. Agus says each person voluntarily taking mitigation steps is preferable.

"Shutting down the whole city would just devastate it using contact tracing and telling individuals who are very high risk they have to quarantine. So a small number are impacted, in return for decreasing numbers of viral infections of the city, make sense to me."

The critical thing Dr. Agus emphasizes is we have no idea where the virus is, who might be contagious without even realizing it, and what is safe. So there can be no let up on precautions today, tomorrow, and until we have widespread vaccination.

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