A Change of Plans: East families are adjusting holiday plans in the time of COVID-19

COVID-19 cases are once again rising across the country, forcing many East families to change or cancel their plans for the upcoming holidays.

With Thanksgiving now three weeks away, a majority of East families have made the decision to celebrate with the family they live with instead of normal large gatherings.

For sophomore Kurt Freeman, the only aspect of Thanksgiving that has changed is that he will not be seeing his extended family like normal.

“This year we are planning on just staying home and having a nice family dinner,” Freeman said. “Normally, we go around to extended family and have dinner at different houses because we have a lot of extended family around us.” 

Senior Maisie Sheets said that she will not be taking the normal trip to her grandparents in Tennessee for Thanksgiving. Instead her family will be celebrating it at home. 

Sheets also brought up an important part of the holidays — traditions.

According to Sheets, the best Thanksgiving tradition is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Though it is still happening, there have been some major changes that might alter its appearance and appeal to the viewers this year. These changes will include no live audience, no live performances and there will be no high school or college marching bands. 

“The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is my favorite part of Thanksgiving,” Sheets said. “The fact that it won’t be the same this year makes me sad.”

For some East families, Thanksgiving will remain the same, but their plans for Christmas have been changed, including East psychology teacher Brett Kramer. 

“My mom has four sisters and on the Sunday before Christmas, we all get together on a farm about 20 miles Northwest of Manhattan, Kansas,” Kramer said. “This includes all 20 of my cousins and their spouses and children — It ends up being about 45 people.” 

But this year, they won’t be gathering in such a large group because it doesn’t seem like the responsible thing to do.

The CDC has created guidelines for social gatherings, like those for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They encourage people to have their gatherings outside if possible. If that is not an option, they advise people to open as many windows as they can to improve air flow and ventilation.

The CDC is also advising against multiple cooks in the kitchen — they encourage people to bring their own food and drinks if possible. Again, if that isn’t an option, they suggest having one person serve the food.