Edwards Asks Louisianians to Avoid Large Groups for Thanksgiving

As our state sees a (predicted) uptick in COVID-19 cases, our governor is laying down his recommendations ahead of Thanksgiving.

Now, before we get into this, I would like to clear something up. Speaking with my grandmother today, it became clear that she, and I'm sure many, were under the impression that large gatherings of any kind are banned for Thanksgiving.

Large family gatherings are, in fact, not banned and no punishment will be pursued towards any family or household that has a large family celebrating Thanksgiving together. Of course, what families do on Thanksgiving in our state is completely up to them. However, Governor John Bel Edwards is pleading with Louisiana families to do the smart thing, and limit their guest list on November 26th.

He says, "We’re asking people to really find a way to celebrate Thanksgiving but to do it safely which means to do it virtually to a large degree.”

The keyword here is obviously "asking", meaning it is certainly not a law or punishable to do the opposite, instead, it is simply the smart thing to do. These are unknown times and strange days we're living in, and sometimes, you just have to make the right choice. For instance, my family decided to limit our normal gathering to about 10-12 of us, which is about 10 give-or-take less than a normal Thanksgiving.

This week alone, Louisiana has seen over 4,500 new COVID-19 cases. While we still remain in Phase Three, Governer Edwards seemed to hint at the very real possibility of leveling strict restrictions to contain the spread during this uptick. He says, "I will have to make those decisions if necessary in order to preserve the capacity of our hospitals to deliver life-saving care."