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Townhall.com ^ | November 28, 2020 | Bronson Stocking

[Grampa Dave]

If you visited family for Thanksgiving despite COVID-19, here’s what you need to do today!

Tony Bizjak The Sacramento Bee Nov 30, 2020 Updated 31 min a

COVID-19

Tony Bizjak: The Sacramento Bee:Health officials implored people not to gather over Thanksgiving with family, amid a surge in COVID-19 cases that is crowding hospitals, leaving some understaffed. But hundreds of thousands of California residents did so anyway, saying the moment with family was precious enough to take the risk.

Now, those health officials have another request:

Anyone who gathered in a family setting this past weekend should assume for the moment that they have the virus. That means quarantining for 14 days. Call it penance for your indulgence, they say.

Health officials say they fear that Thanksgiving get-togethers have amplified the virus spread at a risky moment. The numbers of cases per day and hospitalizations in Sacramento and California have been shooting upward dramatically since Halloween.

But, they say, the damage can be mitigated to an extent if people who were with others over Thanksgiving now steer clear of others during the 14-day gestation period for the virus.

“We are very worried about a Thanksgiving bump,” Sacramento County health chief Dr. Peter Beilenson said. “It is crucial to keep the surge down.”

People don’t necessarily need to take an immediate virus test because the test may not catch a gestating virus, misleading the person into thinking they are negative when they are in fact infected and asymptomatic.

Key steps, according to Yolo County Health Officer Aimee Sisson:

— Quarantine at home if you traveled, especially if you went to a place where COVID-19 is spreading rapidly, which is happening in much of California and the country.

— Don’t gather this week with coworkers.

— If you need groceries or food, get it delivered to your house.

— If you take a post-Thanksgiving virus test that comes in negative, it should not shorten the 14-day quarantine period, because the virus may not be immediately detectable.

— Don’t travel for the next holiday (i.e. Christmas).

Increasingly, officials say, the virus is being passed along among people ages 18-49, many of whom do not have symptoms or only mild symptoms, thus spread it unknowingly to others, some of whom are elderly and more susceptible to serious health problems from becoming infected.

The moment is critical, as well, health officials say, because hospitals are being hit with a record high number of COVID-19 cases. On Saturday, Sacramento County hospitals’ virus patient numbers jumped to a record 284, and on Sunday the number jumped again to 303 — a quadrupling of COVID-19 patient numbers in just six weeks.

Similarly, both California and the nation this weekend hit record highs of virus patients. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases official, on Sunday warned that the country is likely to see a surge on top of the existing case surge as more people gather indoors, against health advice, in groups this holiday season.