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As Americans’ reactions to the pandemic become increas-ingly divorced from the reality of it, public-health officials may
be facing their biggest challenge yet: forcing the public to face
how bad things still are, and how much worse they may become.
From a public-health perspective, Thanksgiving was
always going to be a problem. Maskless indoor gatherings in
close quarters are perfect breeding grounds for the virus, and
many Thanksgiving celebrations will likely include older adults
at high risk of severe COVID-19. After months of separation, it’s
natural that people are desperate to see loved ones and reclaim
a sense of normality—but things are far from normal.
More than half of U.S. COVID-19 cases have been recordedsince August, and the speed at which they are accumulating is
ratcheting up: more than 1 million new cases were logged in
just the week leading up to Nov. 17. Nonetheless, people ap-
pear unwilling to take the kind of drastic measures they did
this spring, when lockdowns went into effect in many parts of
the country and most people cut out socializing with anyone
outside their household. “The fear was there at the beginning.
It was national, there was a sense of patriotism—and then it
faded,” says Dr. Natasha Kathuria, an emergency- medicine phy-
sician based in Austin. “The public is tired.”
With resolve weakening, models in mid-October suggested
up to 50 million Americans would travel for Thanksgiving this
year, according to AAA’s annual holiday- travel report—not