Think Small on Thanksgiving, Evers Urges

“As you consider your options for Thursday, please make the hard choices,” says Gov. Tony Evers of Thanksgiving gatherings. He is following his own advice.

Evers has to stop and count how many people were at his Thanksgiving table last year before answering how this year will be different.

“Last year we met with — let me do the math — nine grandkids, three kids, so that’s 12, plus Kathy and I, so we were 14 people together at my daughter’s house, probably spending five hours together,” says Evers. “This year it’s Kathy Evers and Tony Evers — end of story.  At home.”

Answering the same query as to how her Thanksgiving will be different from years past, Andrea Palm, the secretary-designee of the state Department of Health Services shows she is leading by example — and finding creative ways to have some fun and help the local economy while she’s at it.

“We have traditionally spent a long weekend with my husband’s family. This year it will just be my husband and I,” says Palm. “We actually went all in on Wisconsin this year. We got a pork tenderloin from our favorite local farmer and an apple pie from our favorite orchard and a nice bottle of wine from our favorite local wine seller and it’ll be just the two of us. We tried to think of fun ways to make it a little different and not just lonely, but it will be just the two of us.”

So as Evers and Palm tell Wisconsinites to celebrate safely, stay smart and follow advice from public-health experts, avoiding gatherings of people you don’t live with, opting for virtual celebrations instead, they are doing it too.

“It is important to note that a negative test is not a free pass to host,” adds Evers. “A negative test one day does not guarantee a negative test tomorrow. You could very well test negative one day and spread the virus to your family the next day.

“So if you’re planning to spend Thanksgiving with people outside of your household,” he adds, “we urge you to seriously reconsider.  We all must make short-term sacrifices for our long-term health. None of us wants to be the ones who unwittingly spread this virus to somebody we love or host the next super-spreader that we hear about in the news.”

Reprinted with permission of Wisconsin Examiner.