Like most holidays in 2020, Thanksgiving will have to be celebrated a little differently this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amid a surge in cases both locally and provincially, the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) has asked folks to stick to their households and avoid travelling.
If people do want to gather, health officials recommend doing it outside while practicing physical distancing.
While the health recommendations require some changes, Londoners have shown they’re willing to adapt.
Allan MacConnell tells Global News his family had to substitute their usual large family gathering for three smaller gatherings in order to accommodate COVID-19 guidelines.
“It was just an easy transition,” MacConnell said of the planning process.
“I think (Thanksgiving) will be different, for sure, but I think in a lot of ways it’ll be better. You get to pick the people you really do want to spend time with on the weekend.”
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The pandemic has also caused a change of plans for Lisa Schwerzmann’s family.
“We usually go up to the Bruce Peninsula. My parents live up there, so we usually spend Thanksgiving there, but this year we are not doing that,” said Schwerzmann.
“We’re having Thanksgiving dinner, my husband and our two children, and just making the best of the situation.”
While she won’t be able to see family, Schwerzmann says she still has plenty to be thankful for this holiday weekend.
“I’m really grateful that we have our health, our jobs and that we are able to do as much as we are able to do here. People in London have been wonderful and I think we’re all going to get through this together.”
Harry Day-Hodson’s family also had to swap out its traditional big gathering for smaller meet ups due to health concerns.
“I think there was a degree of inevitability, but I definitely hoped that things would’ve shifted over by now,” said Day-Hodson.
“I think it will be weird because we’ll all be having to wear masks, which I think we’ll be trying to avoid the weirdness of, but it’s inevitable that that’s going to be awkward.”
For Sherwin Maslow, the pandemic hasn’t brought too much of a change for his Thanksgiving.
Maslow, a professor who’s originally from the United States, often does not observe the Canadian version of the holiday.
“For me, Thanksgiving, it was a day when there was no classes.”
While he was visiting London on Friday, Maslow currently lives in Montreal. He says even if he had plans, there wouldn’t be much to do.
“(My wife and I) live in a condo and we could not even invite a neighbour to come into our apartment, it’s that strict,” said Maslow.
This year’s Thanksgiving weekend comes on the heels of Ontario recording it’s largest single-day increase in new cases of COVID-19.
Along with the record-breaking numbers, the province also introduced new restrictions for Toronto, Peel Region and Ottawa, which have each been deemed coronavirus hotspots by health officials.
The MLHU says travelling to these hotspots will be especially dangerous over the Thanksgiving weekend and are encouraging families to consider virtual alternatives to traditional gatherings.
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