Xinhua Headlines: Raging COVID-19 pandemic makes Thanksgiving a high-risk occasion

Source: Xinhua| 2020-11-27 18:53:29|Editor: huaxia

-- New COVID-19 infections contracted over the Thanksgiving holiday will not become evident until weeks later, making it "very difficult" as the virus could spiral out of control heading into the December holiday season.

-- In addition to Thanksgiving, the upcoming holiday season that lasts till the end of the year will also be negatively affected by the raging global pandemic.

-- The greatest defense against COVID-19 is solidarity and cooperation, said United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- When Thanksgiving, a holiday for family reunion, falls on Thursday, the bodies of hundreds of people who died from COVID-19 remain stored in freezer trucks in New York City, many of which are of people whose families cannot be located or cannot afford a proper burial.

"Thanksgiving is kind of a reminder of just how bad things are. My parents are not going to really be able to have a Thanksgiving maybe with my sister who lives just down the street from them," Andrew Cardoso, an American from Los Angeles who teaches English writing at a university in Beijing, told Xinhua recently.

Global COVID-19 infections has surpassed 60 million as of Thursday afternoon, with over 1.4 million deaths registered worldwide, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Faced with such a grave situation, world leaders, officials and experts have called for tougher health measures with strict adherence and closer international cooperation.

Travelers wearing face masks are seen at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, the United States, on Nov. 25, 2020.(Photo by Joel Lerner/Xinhua)


HIGH-RISK THANKSGIVING

The United States by Thursday afternoon has recorded more than 12.86 million cases and over 263,200 deaths, both the highest in the world, according to the real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Nearly 90,000 COVID-19 patients are in hospitals across the country as of Thursday, the Thanksgiving day, reaching a new all-time high for the 16th consecutive day, according to The COVID Tracking Project.

Facing a dire situation, the U.S. government is pinning its hopes on a COVID vaccine; however, a recent Gallup poll showed that 42 percent of Americans said they would not get vaccinated, most of them citing the rushed timeline.

Social media accounts held by anti-vaxxers have seen their followers grow by around 7.8 million since 2019, said a recent report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, adding that 31 million people follow anti-vaccine groups on Facebook, with 17 million people subscribing to similar accounts on YouTube.

Overshadowed by yet another grim estimate, a recent study by the team of Jeffrey Shaman, an epidemiologist from Columbia University, showed that 3.6 million people in the United States have active coronavirus infections and are potentially contagious, a figure significantly higher than the official tally.

"It's bad; it's really, really bad," said Shaman, adding that the Thanksgiving Day celebrations will likely worsen the spread of the virus.

People tour the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the United States, Nov. 25, 2020.(Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

Some U.S. states have moved to curb the virus with new restrictions, while authorities and experts have asked citizens to stay home and wear masks for the Thanksgiving holiday, which normally sees millions of families travel to gather and enjoy meals.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown has banned indoor Thanksgiving gatherings in private residences, an order critics call "un-American." Pennsylvania has ordered that any individual who visits from another state must have a negative coronavirus test 72 hours prior to arrival.

"Travel may increase your chance of getting and spreading COVID-19. Postponing travel and staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others this year," the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a new guideline posted on its website last week. "Gatherings with family and friends who do not live with you can increase the chances of getting or spreading COVID-19 or the flu."

Mask up this Thanksgiving even when you feast with a few people at home, U.S. top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci urged in early November during an interview on "CBS This Morning."

However, such measures and guidance seem not to be well implemented in the United States, as many officers across the country have privately disagreed with and avoided enforcing such rules, and many Americans are ignoring the CDC's advice.

The White House plans to hold an indoor holiday reception next week just days after Thanksgiving, ABC News reported Tuesday.

Oregon Republican county-level official Tootie Smith posted on Facebook that she would be having a Thanksgiving bash at her home "with as many family and friends as I can find."

More than 3 million travelers passed through security at U.S. airports over the weekend, according to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.

Road is closed far away from the area for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, the United States, Nov. 26, 2020.(Xinhua/Wang Ying)

Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he worries that crowds at airports are going to get the country into "even more trouble" than it is in right now.

New COVID-19 infections contracted over the Thanksgiving holiday will not become evident until weeks later, making it "very difficult" as the virus could spiral out of control heading into the December holiday season, he added.


A DARK HOLIDAY SEASON

In addition to Thanksgiving, the upcoming holiday season that lasts till the end of the year will also be negatively affected by the raging global pandemic, with officials and experts, from Europe to the Asia-Pacific, the Americas and Africa, issuing warnings of higher COVID-19 risks during the holiday season and calling for tougher health measures.

As the COVID-19 death curve is on the rise in Britain, some scientists warned that the government's plan to relax coronavirus restrictions over Christmas risks "throwing fuel on the COVID fire."

Last week, the British government's medical adviser Susan Hopkins said at a Downing Street briefing that for the government to "allow some mixing" of households over Christmas would require tougher rules before and after the holiday to reduce the cases and the risk of transmission within households and between families.

A man walks past a bar that provides outdoor seating service in New Orleans, Louisiana, the United States, Nov. 25, 2020.(Photo by Lan Wei/Xinhua)

Philippines Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire warned Filipinos once again to avoid crowds as the holiday season draws near, noting that people in crowded areas have a higher potential risk of getting infected.

"Even if you are wearing a face mask and face shield, but you go to a crowded area where there is no distancing, you can still contract the disease. The risk is there, and it's very high," Vergeire said in an online media briefing on Monday.

On Sunday, Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam urged Canadians to make a plan for safer holidays and take into account public health measures when planning for celebrations.

"Our best protection, now and into the holiday season, is to limit errands and outings to the essentials, keep in-person social activities to our existing household and strictly and consistently maintain public health practices," Tam said in a statement.

Considering the Christmas holidays a difficult time as people will go out and crowd into shopping centers, Chile's Health Ministry is working on a plan to warn people about the increased risk of contracting the virus during the end-of-year holidays and the austral summer season.

In Africa, with over 2 million cases and over 50,000 deaths, Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, has urged people to lower the risk of possible new clusters during the festive season across the Sub-Saharan African region "by wearing masks, limiting the numbers of people who come together, observing physical distancing and practicing good hand hygiene."


COOPERATION NEEDED

"Our greatest defense against COVID-19 is solidarity and cooperation," United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Sunday at a virtual summit of the Group of 20 (G20) leaders.

Sharing similar views, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud stressed in his closing remarks at the G20 summit on Sunday that cooperation is necessary today more than ever to face the impacts of the pandemic and to build a prosperous future for people around the world.

Noting that the WHO must remain the cornerstone of global coordination against health emergencies, European Council President Charles Michel called for negotiating an international treaty on pandemics by all nations, the UN organizations and agencies, in particular the WHO, to "help prevent future pandemics and help us respond more quickly and in a more coordinated manner."

Attending an array of international events in November that virtually gathered leaders of the world's major economies, Chinese President Xi Jinping has demonstrated China's firm commitment to helping the world defeat COVID-19, building an open world economy and advocating multilateralism.

People watch Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from far away in New York, the United States, Nov. 26, 2020.(Xinhua/Wang Ying)

Addressing the G20 Riyadh Summit via video link on Saturday, Xi called on G20 members to build a global "firewall" against COVID-19.

"We must first put the disease under control at home and, on that basis, strengthen exchanges and cooperation to help countries in need," Xi said, adding that the G20 should speed up action and support the WHO in mobilizing and consolidating resources and distributing vaccines fairly and efficiently.

As China has managed to keep the pandemic under control and strived for economic growth, it has never hesitated to offer a helping hand to anyone in need, by sending expert teams, donating essential medical supplies, jointly building test labs and sharing its anti-virus experience.

China has five vaccines under phase-three clinical trials in multiple countries. The country has also joined COVAX, a global initiative to ensure effective and equitable global access to vaccines.

On the economic front, from hosting the third China International Import Expo to signing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade deal with relevant parties, China has demonstrated its sincere desire to share its market opportunities with the world and contribute to global economic recovery.

"China is considered a pioneer through its tremendous efforts to stop the pandemic on its soil and to provide aid to many other countries," said Yahya bin Junaid, head of Saudi Arabia's Center for Research and Intercommunication Knowledge.

(Video reporters: Gao Lu, Wei Ying, Zhang Mocheng; Video editor: Wei Yin)

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