Coverage of T-Weekend Gatherings
Nov. 11th, 2020 12:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitoutI read this in the Boston Globe:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/11/10/nation/youre-not-doomed-zoom-how-have-safer-thanksgiving-during-pandemic/
That is a provocative headline — almost encouraging people to gather! The article is actually more about, If You Are Going to Gather, Here Are Ways to Risk Mitigate. But the headline is disturbing.
Once in the article, an example is given of someone who might have traveled anyway (daughter having a baby), and who will be getting tested before and after arriving. Then, the usual array of mitigation: reduce gathering size, have it outdoors, any indoors activities should be masked, use distancing, think about how much time you really need to spend eating together (this actually was funny — we are trying to turn a community feast into something that is safer in a pandemic, and reducing the time eating together somehow really brought that home to me).
I read this at the Seattle Times:
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/dire-warnings-from-health-officials-as-coronavirus-runs-wild-in-washington-any-in-person-gathering-is-risky/
It does not mention Thanksgiving gatherings, but it is about them.
“health officials from around the state warned Tuesday afternoon that “any in-person gathering is risky,” including Thanksgiving dinners.”
That is a surprisingly broad difference given that that the risk levels in the two locations are _not_ that different, and the politics of the two locations are somewhat different, they are not _that_ different.
My sister and I had planned to meet near me (she was going to drive her family up); we mostly independently decided that the backup plan (just staying put in our respective locations) sounded a helluva lot safer and the trend was going the wrong way. The resulting conversation was extremely easy as a result. I wish everyone else out there thinking this through a similarly easy conclusion, but, if there is a lack of agreement, please treat those who choose not to attend as people who are thinking about everyone’s health and safety, and NOT treating the rest of the family and its traditions with anything other than affection and respect.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/11/10/nation/youre-not-doomed-zoom-how-have-safer-thanksgiving-during-pandemic/
That is a provocative headline — almost encouraging people to gather! The article is actually more about, If You Are Going to Gather, Here Are Ways to Risk Mitigate. But the headline is disturbing.
Once in the article, an example is given of someone who might have traveled anyway (daughter having a baby), and who will be getting tested before and after arriving. Then, the usual array of mitigation: reduce gathering size, have it outdoors, any indoors activities should be masked, use distancing, think about how much time you really need to spend eating together (this actually was funny — we are trying to turn a community feast into something that is safer in a pandemic, and reducing the time eating together somehow really brought that home to me).
I read this at the Seattle Times:
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/dire-warnings-from-health-officials-as-coronavirus-runs-wild-in-washington-any-in-person-gathering-is-risky/
It does not mention Thanksgiving gatherings, but it is about them.
“health officials from around the state warned Tuesday afternoon that “any in-person gathering is risky,” including Thanksgiving dinners.”
That is a surprisingly broad difference given that that the risk levels in the two locations are _not_ that different, and the politics of the two locations are somewhat different, they are not _that_ different.
My sister and I had planned to meet near me (she was going to drive her family up); we mostly independently decided that the backup plan (just staying put in our respective locations) sounded a helluva lot safer and the trend was going the wrong way. The resulting conversation was extremely easy as a result. I wish everyone else out there thinking this through a similarly easy conclusion, but, if there is a lack of agreement, please treat those who choose not to attend as people who are thinking about everyone’s health and safety, and NOT treating the rest of the family and its traditions with anything other than affection and respect.