Tens of millions of Americans are preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, a major test for living with the coronavirus instead of avoiding it at all costs — as experts brace for the possibility of another winter surge partially fueled by indoor holiday gatherings.

Public health authorities are not begging Americans to skip Thanksgiving or keep get-togethers small like they did last year, when vaccines were not yet available and a winter wave that would kill thousands a day was starting.

Instead, their focus for Thanksgiving 2021 is all about risk reduction: getting vaccines and boosters, undergoing testing to prevent asymptomatic transmission and, in some cases, celebrating outdoors or while masked. And they urge extra vigilance when Thanksgiving gatherings include an elderly or immunocompromised person who would have a harder time fighting off the virus even if they are vaccinated.

Two-thirds of Americans are planning to celebrate Thanksgiving with about as many people as they did before the pandemic, according to a poll by Monmouth University. Just a quarter plan to celebrate alone or with just their household, compared with half last year. The Transportation Security Administration is expected to screen nearly as many people this week as it did during the same period in 2019.

Posted in: USA