More than a third of Americans want to have their pumpkin pie and eat it too this Thanksgiving, according to a new survey.
Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, 38 percent are planning a holiday dinner with 10 or more people — and 27 percent don’t plan on practicing social distancing during their celebration, according to the national survey by the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
The survey also found that 33 percent percent of respondents said they aren’t likely to ask their guests to wear masks, and 20 percent would not turn away guests who have virus symptoms.
The majority of respondents said they would only break bread and slice turkey with people in their household, and nearly three quarters plan on practicing social distance.
“We’re going to look back at what happened during this holiday season and ask ourselves, ‘Were we part of the solution or were we part of the problem?,’ ” says Dr. Iahn Gonsenhauser, chief quality and patient safety officer at the Wexner Medical Center.
“When you’re gathered together around the table, engaged in conversation, sitting less than 6 feet apart with your masks down, even in a small group, that’s when the spread of this virus can really happen.”
One family that plans to pare down their family invite list for the holiday are the Bidens. The president-elect on Monday said he and wife Jill cut relatives from their Thanksgiving list due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will stay within the mandated 10 maximum.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says even “small household gatherings are an important contributor to the rise in COVID-19 cases.”
The agency is urging people to bring their own food to holiday gatherings, sit outside and avoid going in and out of kitchens.
With rising case numbers across the US and the tri-state area, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy have both issued executive orders limiting indoor gatherings to 10 people or fewer and discouraging travel.
Stay-at-home advisories are also in effect north of the Big Apple in Mount Vernon, and in Chicago.
Meanwhile, new research out of Canada suggests that a nonchalant approach to gatherings during that country’s Thanksgiving on Oct. 12 rapidly accelerated the spread of COVID-19 north of the border.