Experts: Black families shouldn’t gather on Thanksgiving

Given the sharp uptick in coronavirus cases in the U.S. this fall, families shouldn’t hold large in-person gatherings, say experts. And Black families should be especially vigilant because Black Americans have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

In a November 20, 2020 Undefeated article, Dean Michelle Williams of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health said, “We could not be at a more dangerous point in the spread of this virus, and it’s far better to delay a family celebration than to risk the health and safety of any family member.”

Williams noted that Black families have experienced not only disproportionate illness and death from the pandemic, but also mental anguish from seeing loved ones suffer and die in unjust ways. “And all of this has occurred in tandem with the pain reawakened by the racial reckonings that have happened across the country this summer and beyond,” she said.

She noted that she understands the desire to gather with family amid the trauma. “But it would be even more tragic to exacerbate the death and illness among our family and friends by letting down our guards this year,” she said. “By this time in 2021, the landscape really is going to look different. Let’s hold off on celebrating now so that we can toast our collective health later.”

Read article from The Undefeated: Black families should avoid Thanksgiving gatherings. But here’s how to stay safe.