All around the United States, families get together to celebrate Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is one of those holidays where most people celebrate indoors and in proximity to one another.

This year, however, Thanksgiving will be very different for many families. Some families plan to celebrate this holiday like normal, others under tighter restrictions and with fewer people, and others have canceled their celebrations altogether. Families are going to have to make the decision themselves on whether to have Thanksgiving and how they will have the holiday beloved by so many.

Staff and students at The Morgan School are doing things differently this year for Thanksgiving. Mathematics teacher Julian Milcent will be “lying low this year.” Mr. Milcent said, “My wife and I are just going to have a small dinner with ourselves. We will not be seeing family because of the virus, and it will be a very low-key Thanksgiving.” Library specialist Shannon Robinson will also be taking precautions this Thanksgiving. She said, “My family will be ordering food from Nataz Restaurant in Clinton and staying to ourselves.”

Junior Cole Crowley, who normally gets together with family for Thanksgiving will be staying home this year. Cole said, “I’ll be staying home on Thanksgiving and watching a lot of football.” Junior Natalie Giaimo will not be doing much this year. Natalie said, “Normally I have Thanksgiving with my dad, but this year I will be staying home with my mom and my grandma so no one gets sick.”

Principal Keri Hagness is celebrating differently with family this year. Mrs. Hagness said, “Obviously Thanksgiving will be different this year. My family will be celebrating together but through Google Meet.” Mrs. Hagness then said, “We will be using what we learned with technology this year to celebrate together but without the risk of getting each other sick.” Families need to make the decision about the right way to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. There are guidelines set, but ultimately it is a decision for families on how to go about Thanksgiving. Every family knows what is best for them and hopefully they make the right decision.

Doctors and experts have been warning about asymptomatic spread and believe that will be a big issue for Thanksgiving. In an interview with NBC, Infectious disease doctor, Dr. Anthony Fauci said, “You get one person who is asymptotic and infected, and then all of a sudden five people in that gathering are infected.”

In Connecticut, there have been many spikes of COVID-19 all over the state and Governor Lamont felt there needed to be action taken to prevent spread over the Thanksgiving Holiday. According to an article by CT News Junkie 96% of Connecticut’s, population is in a red zone. The article also stated, “Gov. Ned Lamont announced new rules Thursday limiting private gatherings to 10 people. By trying to limit the number of guests this Thanksgiving, Connecticut is hoping for a limited spread of the virus throughout the next couple of weeks.

In Clinton, there has also been a rise of cases prompting schools to close and move to full online learning. This decision was made to keep students and staff safe. In an email sent by Superintendent Maryann O’Donnell, Mrs. O’Donnell said, “The rapid increase in the number of additional positive cases of students and staff in such a short period of time” “has prompted the difficult decision to suspend in-person learning.” On an interactive map on CT.GOV, it shows that Clinton has one of the highest cases per 100,000 in the state, with over 36 cases per 100,000. This is the driving factor of Morgan families having smaller gatherings this year.

The Morgan PawPrint hopes everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!