CDC pleads with Americans to stay home on Thanksgiving

Faced with a seemingly unstoppable surge in coronavirus infections, officials at the CDC on Thursday urged Americans to avoid travel for Thanksgiving and to celebrate only with members of their immediate households — a message sharply at odds with a White House eager to downplay the threat. The plea, delivered at the first CDC news briefing in months, arrived as many Americans were packing their bags for one of the most heavily traveled weeks of the year. It is the first time that the agency has warned people away from traditional holiday celebrations. “The safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving this year is at home with members of your household,” said Erin Sauber-Schatz, who leads the agency’s community intervention and critical population task force. She urged Americans to reassess plans for the coming week. The warning runs counter to messages from administration officials, who have denounced concerns that Thanksgiving celebrations will speed the virus’s spread. “A lot of the guidelines you’re seeing are Orwellian,” Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, said on “Fox & Friends,” singling out a requirement in Oregon that gatherings not exceed more than six people. Members of the White House coronavirus task force did not even mention Thanksgiving at a news conference on Thursday, even as they warned of the hazards associated with indoor gatherings and urged “vigilance” in the face of rampant infections.<br/>