Thread by @Ayjchan

USA getting close to 200,000 new daily covid cases and ~1000 covid deaths per day.

An estimated 50 million travelers this Thanksgiving. Some may have already started their trip home this weekend.

Don't need magical powers to see this will won't go well.

technologyreview.com/2020/11/14/101…

For those still on the fence, please consider alternatives to in-person Thanksgiving.

On top of the regular Zoom, Skype, Facetime, Whatsapp meetings, you can:

(1) Watch movies and Netflix with your family using Teleparty netflixparty.com
I recommend Crash Landing on You.

(2) Play super fun app/online games.

Jackbox games - I like Drawful and Trivia Murder Party. jackboxgames.com/how-to-play/

Among Us - Murder your family and friends digitally instead of at Thanksgiving dinner. cnet.com/how-to/among-u…

(3) Go on virtual tours with your family and friends. You can keep your Zoom meeting on during the tour.

Here's one of the White House 360virtualtour.co/portfolio/the-…

Better ideas here:
forbes.com/sites/laurabeg…

(4) If you want to jazz up your typical online meeting, consider:

A virtual party room you can customize spatial.chat

Animal crossing
theverge.com/2020/4/8/21212…

I promise I'm not earning any commission from these apps I'm recommending.

Consider that you can immediately hang up on your parents & relatives when they start questioning all of your life choices, why you don't have kids, how you compare to your siblings or cousins, why you never became a real doctor (and why you're now a twitter conspiracy theorist).

But if you're set on going home for Thanksgiving, please plan out how you're going to maintain social distancing, minimize risk of superspreading, and have a clear outline of the steps to take if someone in your circle tests positive in the weeks to come.
massgeneral.org/news/coronavir…

Estimate the risk of attending a gathering, given the event size and location covid19risk.biosci.gatech.edu

Consider whether or not to exclude relatives who are college students or people whose jobs expose them to a lot of people in the community on a regular basis.

If possible, have a call with all attending family+friends first to establish some ground rules to keep everyone safe, e.g.,

(1) No Thanksgiving party hopping.
(2) Staying outdoors + socially distanced as much as possible.
(3) Immediately telling everyone if you feel unwell.

Plan what to do when you return from Thxgiving. Maybe you were 💯responsible, but this doesn't apply to everyone. A lot of people in this country still don't think that this virus is a real public health concern.

A Thanksgiving hike in cases is expected.
cnn.com/2020/11/21/hea…

If possible, have conversations with your employers pre-Thxgiving to ensure that there are no incentives/pressure for people to come into work immediately after Thanksgiving. Many of us have our biases, e.g., I was safe, I'm healthy, there's no way I could have gotten covid.

On this note, Zoom announced that it will lift its 40-minute time limit for free meetings on Thanksgiving (November 26). #Zoomsgiving

cnn.com/2020/11/17/tec…

I think it's incredibly important to walk through the steps of what to do if you find out someone at your Thanksgiving is covid-positive. This is likely going to happen across 100,000s of households over the next few weeks, although there are measures you can take to reduce risk.

(1) If someone is sick, stay home first, don't go to CVS or to the hospital. Prepare for the worst - assuming that they have covid - pick 1 person to be their caregiver, isolate both of them, but the entire household should also quarantine separately.
massgeneral.org/news/coronavir…

(2) Call your doctor to walk through the symptoms and decide whether to visit the hospital/call an ambulance.

If possible, put together a basic kit before Thanksgiving: thermometer, disinfectant wipes, tissues, painkillers, cough syrup/lozenges so that you have all this ready.

I know these sound like an overreaction to a lot of people who don't think they will develop severe covid. We often hear about the fatality rate but not the rate of developing severe covid, which is considerably higher even for younger people, especially with pre-existing issues.

Back in January, I started putting together my covid kit. Yes, this disease isn't as fatal as SARS1 or Ebola. But if your entire city succumbs to mass outbreaks, you will be faced with a shelter-in-place/lockdown and overflowing hospitals+CVSs, which will become covid hotspots.

I'm really glad that I did not have to use this kit so far (except for the TP) this year, but it still gives me a peace of mind knowing that I have it in case the worst case scenario happens.

Good lists here: healthline.com/health/stockin…

And here: cnn.com/2020/10/27/hea…