Thanksgiving is a time for family, food and giving thanks. But what happens when there is a safety risk in doing so? COVID has now been going on for around 10 months with many people having to stay away from their non immediate family for the safety of themselves and others, but now it’s Thanksgiving so what are people planning to do?

“My family’s plan for Thanksgiving is currently in a dilemma,” Senior Valaiya Appleton said,” We haven’t decided what we’re gonna do yet, but if anything my immediate family will come over.”

This seems to be a common theme of peoples’ plans for the holidays. Junior Holly Hill explains that her family is just having Thanksgiving with her immediate family.

“The latest idea was to have half of us cook the food and my grandparents cook the other half,” Hill said. “Then just have one of us drive over and drop the food off and pick up the other food and just just do a minimal interaction and then to have a virtual Thanksgiving dinner over Zoom with everyone else.”

Though this safety of staying away and having different Thanksgiving for relatives comes with struggles. As Senior Maddie Kantin describes that Thanksgiving is usually a time to see and spend time with people we love.

”One thing I’ll miss from Thanksgiving last year is not being able to see as many as we usually would,” Kantin said.“I loved being able to see my family and friends, but we’re limiting the size this year due to coronavirus.” 

While lots of people find it difficult to not spend Thanksgiving with their whole families, some are okay with it. Natalie Miller said that because it’s not her favorite holiday, she’s fine spending it just with the people she lives with.

“I’m fine with it because Thanksgiving is not one of my favorite holidays, but if we have to do it for Christmas or Easter it won’t be fun,” Miller said.

But it’s not only seeing family that is causing a problem this Thanksgiving ,it’s also the fact that people may take vacations.

“I know people will definitely be going on vacations over the break like going on trips and going to see their family, and I don’t think so many people are going to take precautions when they’re doing that,” Miller said. “I feel like that increases the likelihood of people getting it and bringing it back to school.” 

With all of these fears surrounding Thanksgiving, Ohio’s governor Mike DeWine suggests people to not meet with their large families because it could increase the spread of corona.