If You’re Planning to Travel to Thanksgiving, Check Out This Thread on Twitter.
Despite the accelerating pace of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, millions are traveling to visit their families this week for Thanksgiving. The collection will continue as planned, as if the Centers for Disease Control had not issued a holiday travel warning. As the masses converge, the pandemic will inevitably grow in eight months, prolonging the downward spiral of hospitalizations and deaths in the United States, the latest of which is now nearly 260,000.
Most of the suffering was invisible to people who did not contract the disease, were not in financial position, or did not see how the virus infects someone they know. It is useful for these people to demonstrate the real human sacrifice of the uncontrolled spread of the virus.
A recent Twitter thread from an intensive care nurse does just that. For those who might still be dreaming of a trip to visit their family ahead of Thursday’s holidays, this will help underline why you definitely shouldn’t.
A woman, an intensive care nurse who tweeted about her work treating COVID patients throughout the pandemic, sharply discusses the emotional consequences she will face if her daughter is quarantined over the holidays – a requirement due that she was exposed to the virus at work. She links the forced separation to the dramatic increase in patient numbers across the country, caused by the multitude of people who do not wear masks or refuse to adhere to the broader principles of the medical community.
Negligence causes untold harm to others
The burden on health care providers is not only the result of treating large numbers of patients. An emotional dimension permeates their lives, especially when they are associated with family.
Healthcare workers are tired and need a break
The best way to give healthcare professionals a much-needed respite is to stay at home this year. I know it sucks, but it’s more than likely that whatever precautions your family takes on Thanksgiving won’t work. Today, the United States has set the 13th record for the number of COVID-related hospitalizations. Nurses, doctors and everyone else in your local intensive care unit has been fighting this pandemic for over eight months.
If you hear this from me – a writer who has been able to work safely from home since March – you don’t like it, check with your intensive care nurse:
Sometimes it’s not enough to do it right
Given the mess we’ve created for ourselves, strict adherence to safety rules by wearing a mask, washing our hands and avoiding crowds is important, but sometimes not enough, to avoid contracting the virus . Even if you have tried to live your life in significantly less social relationships, you may endanger the people at the table while you share your meal. Asymptomatic transmission is most common due to the spread of the disease, according to the CDC, so the chances are that even if you feel good ( or test negative ), you are putting everyone in your family at risk.
When you’re looking at train schedules, looking at last-second flight bookings, or waiting for the bus to take you home, don’t just think about your family members. Think also of the nurses, doctors, and healthcare professionals in the industry. Then stay at home.