Thanksgiving weekend, the time of year where I would normally go into my annual rant about over-consumption, over-the-top consumerism and the absurdity of most Americans giving thanks without actually giving anything.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Thanksgiving, I just don’t like what I’ve seen it become. As a Canadian who celebrates Thanksgiving on the second week of October, the contrast of the holiday between the two countries are stunning, but still relatively the same.
We all gather with family, eat turkey, watch football (albeit different leagues), drink beer and end up loosening our belt by the second quarter. I’d say the main reason behind the differences are the holiday’s proximity to Christmas.
In 2020, there are further similarities and differences to Thanksgiving weekend, that being Covid-19. Before the pandemic, risking the health and even lives of family members simply by visiting them was a concept so foreign to us, we would have laughed it off. Unfortunately, many of us still do.
When the Novel Coronavirus came to Canada back in March, it hit my town of Montreal the hardest. Thousands of lives were lost, businesses were shut, many of them permanently, and social assistance was our only source of income.
But we endured. Our Liberal Government, driven by the NDP, were quick to act, as were the Canadian citizens they governed. By late June, throughout Canada, we had beaten back the first wave, reopened our bars, restaurants, gyms and could enjoy each other’s company at a relatively safe distance.
Then came our Thanksgiving weekend. We got careless, we got lazy. We didn’t pay much mind to Covid-19 which was making a comeback as kids went back to school and the drunks in the bars needed a hug. Following that weekend, cases skyrocketed.
It could have been much worse too. Quebec and Ontario, Canada’s two most populous provinces, had shut down restaurants and bars a week earlier. Normally when you shut down these places of business, cases go down, but not after Thanksgiving weekend.
Now, 6 weeks later, Covid-19 is out of control. Daily cases of infection are rising throughout the country, setting records in a majority of our provinces. Unfortunately, it reminds of the past summer in the United States when the disease ran rampant, mostly in Florida, Texas, and California.
The United States never really recovered. Cases started spiking in the late summer again, exacerbated by the general election in early November and are now beyond the point of peaking in the run up to this Thanksgiving Day. The record for daily cases of 192,000 was set less than a week ago. A record number of Americans are in ICUs and the number of daily deaths is setting records as well.
Reports say that more than half of Americans plan to travel this weekend. How many of those that do will be dead by Christmas? For those that know this pandemic is real, even they don’t think it will happen to them until it’s too late.
I’m not going to waste my time here to try and convince a nation of freedom devoted, conspiracy loving MAGA morons to take things seriously. But as someone who has witnessed the perils and ongoing consequences of Thanksgiving social gatherings firsthand, I’m here to tell any individual who’ll listen to stay the F**k home.
Cancel your flights, cancel your plans, cancel everything, but the football game. It’s just not worth it and there is simply no upside to it. There is no peace of mind knowing you could infect a family member. There is no love when risking the lives of the loved ones you intend to visit, and there is certainly no freedom when you’re sucking on the end of a ventilator.
If Canada is any example, the damage the coronavirus will do to the United States following Thanksgiving weekend, at a time when the disease is already out of control, will be beyond catastrophic. What’s worse is that it will take place over Christmas and just a short time before people start to get vaccinated.
So, like I’ve said, don’t become a statistic. Stay home, stay safe. Save the days of over-consumption and Black-Friday madness until after I can visit next year. The summer of 2021 is looking to be a hell of a party. I’d like you all to be around to see it. From everyone at Partyless Politics, have the happiest Thanksgiving you can have!
At home!
