New York, November 26 The fourth Thursday of November every year is a traditional Thanksgiving in the United States, which is a national festival for family gatherings and visiting relatives and friends. However, affected by the coronavirus epidemic, Mr. Guo, who lives in New York, lamented that Thanksgiving had to “shrink” this year.
On this day of the past, relatives scattered all over the United States would come to his home to reunite, and a turkey could eat only bones.
However, this year’s epidemic is too serious. In order not to let the gatherings fuel the epidemic, relatives settled their own places and only His son and daughter-in-law will come back.
The turkey is so big that it is difficult for the four people to eat it no matter what. Mr. Guo simply “fits the time” and bought a roast duck in the nearby Chinatown.
It happened to be destroyed without wasting it. He laughed and said that the turkey changed to roast duck, and Thanksgiving had a “Chinese style”.
In addition to his humor, he couldn’t help shaking his head and said bluntly about the intensity of the coronavirus epidemic.
At the current rate of transmission, if everyone still travels across states and attends larger gatherings frequently as in previous years, Thanksgiving may cause super-infection events.
Before Thanksgiving, New York Governor Cuomo and New York Mayor De Blasio have reminded everyone to avoid traveling during the holiday and celebrate with their families through daily epidemic briefings, Twitter and other channels.
As of the 25th, the number of hospitalized people infected with the novel coronavirus in New York has exceeded 3,000, and the government estimates that the number of hospitalizations will double in the next three weeks at this rate.
As of the afternoon of the 26th, the number of coronavirus deaths in New York State had reached 34,388, ranking first among all states in the United States.
The epidemic has made this Thanksgiving “seventy”. As soon as the festivals arrived in previous years, the florist business must be booming, and wedding orders followed. But business is not as good as before this year.
A florist on Eighth Avenue in Brooklyn, New York City, which has been in existence for more than 20 years, wedding orders have plummeted this year, while funeral orders have exceeded wedding orders, which has never happened before. Some of the other florists around have not even received a wedding order.
A girl looks at a flower shop that is open in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York, on May 27. Photo by Wang Ying, News Agency)
The epidemic is not affected by more than that. The operator of a Manhattan beauty shop told reporters that in previous years, the number of customers would reach up to 40 customers a day this season, but this year’s business has fallen sharply by 70%, and employees have to go home to rest to reduce expenses. If the market continues to be like this, it may also be related to the store.
The catering business has plummeted. Some restaurants in Manhattan, especially large Chinese-run restaurants, usually undertake three or four large banquets on Thanksgiving Day in previous years, with thousands of diners, but this year, orders for small banquets have not even been received. New York State rules that in-room dining can only be opened at 25% of the total capacity, that is, restaurants that used to accommodate 100 guests can now only accommodate 25 people at the same time.
The highlight of New York’s Thanksgiving every year is the parade organized by Macy’s, usually attended and watched by 3.5 million people along the way. This year’s march was still held on the 26th, but the number of participants decreased by nearly 90%.
In previous years, the streets are no longer prosperous this year. People staying at home and watching live broadcasts are the safest choice.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a statement on the 21st, calling on everyone to cancel Thanksgiving trips and not spend the holiday with people other than their families.
But according to the statistics of the American Automobile Association, about 50 million people in the United States drive or fly during Thanksgiving this year.
Although these figures are much lower than in previous years, in the severe epidemic situation, people still feel that this festival is under a shadow of the epidemic, and there are hidden worries in the atmosphere of celebration.
