Sacramentans are flying to Thanksgiving meals despite dire COVID-19 warnings. Here’s why
“There she is!“
Lori Simperman’s eyes crinkled above her floral coronavirus mask, suggesting a big smile underneath, as her daughter descended the escalator at Sacramento International Airport, arriving home from college for Thanksgiving.
Simperman, an Orangevale resident, threw her arms wide and enveloped Jadyn, 21, a nursing student, also in mask. Then they and Simperman’s husband headed in the car to a family Thanksgiving with relatives in San Luis Obispo.
The Simpermans are among perhaps hundreds of thousands in California this week who are doing exactly what national health officials have been asking them not to do - travel long distances to gather with extended family for days of holiday visits amid a national surge of COVID-19 cases.
The federal government’s infections chief Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday even warned people in particular against flying because of potential crowds at airports and in planes.
But Simperman, 55, is not doing it, she says, without due consideration, some doubt and some fear. “I never considered myself a rebellious person,” the healthcare system manager said. “We debated canceling it.”
Instead, the family took COVID-19 tests, and will gather in a group of nine people instead of the usual 20 to 25. If the weather is good, they plan to eat outdoors. They’ll wear masks.
But, Simperman says, there is one risk she plans on taking. Hugs. “We are a hugging family,” she said.
She and family are participating in what health officials say may be the most dangerous Thanksgiving for public health. The coronavirus, now in its 10th month, has been surging throughout the U.S. and California in the last month, sending record numbers of COVID-19 patients nationally to hospitals, filling some intensive care units. The daily numbers of COVID-19 deaths are averaging more than 1,500 and rising fast.
California’s infection positivity rate last week jumped to 6% for the first time in months. That’s above the 5% level the World Health Organization has deemed unsafe for businesses to be open and people to be mixing publicly. (California’s rate, though, is the 10th lowest currently among the 50 states, most of whom now have positivity rates above 10%.)
Gov. Gavin Newsom is among state leaders asking people to stay home this Thanksgiving, and limit gatherings to very small groups, outdoors, for only a brief period. “The virus is spreading at a pace we haven’t seen since the start of this pandemic and the next several days and weeks will be critical to stop the surge. We are sounding the alarm,” Newsom said last week.
Sacramento County Health chief Dr. Peter Beilenson warns that Thanksgiving is particularly dangerous if families with multiple generations gather indoors in groups for hours hugging, talking and laughing.
Early anecdotal reports suggest many plan to heed health officials’ pleas this Thanksgiving. But others say seeing family for one time only this year is just too important.
Federal air travel data indicate Friday and Sunday were two of the three biggest passenger days of the COVID-19 era, each with more than 1 million people flying. The Sunday flier totals represented 45% of the number of people who flew that day last year.
After being often nearly empty this spring and part of the summer, Sacramento International Airport had a moderate number of fliers on Sunday and Monday. Almost all were wearing masks.
That included some travelers, like Ben Keady, who bristle at the message that Gov. Newsom has been delivering about not gathering in groups. Keady, 30, was headed to Oregon to join a family Thanksgiving at his grandparents. It’s tradition, he said, and the grandparents, who are in the most at-risk age group, are as determined as anyone in the family in getting together. “Grandma and grandpa want us up there anyway. They’re not worried about it. We’re not worried about it.”
Keady wore a mask, but said he views the pandemic as over-hyped by elected officials, and said he considers California Gov. Gavin Newsom a hypocrite. Newsom was photographed this month attending a tightly packed dinner party of at least 10 people at a single table in what appears to be an indoor setting at the French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley.
“I think it’s more fear mongering than anything else,” Keady said of publicity about the pandemic. “Somebody said early on in this pandemic that it is going to be the first social media pandemic, and I feel like that is more accurate than anything else.”
Others traveling for Thanksgiving this year acknowledge they are taking a bit of a chance, but decided that seeing family is worth the risk.
Sid Baysinger and his wife Leslie flew in from Phoenix Monday for a multi-generational family Thanksgiving week in Sacramento. Baysinger, 61, who owns a plumbing business in Sacramento, said he had a major health scare earlier this year, ending up in the hospital in serious condition, and it made him more inclined to see loved ones this week.
“The older you get, the more these things matter,” he said, pulling his slipping mask back up over his nose. “You never know when it’s the last time you’ll see your family.”
Four generations of the Cook family are flying in to have Thanksgiving in Contra Costa County this week. Some will stay with family in Oroville. They are a bit nervous. Yvonne Cook, who arrived from a small town outside of Austin on Sunday, said she typically sees her parents in Oroville a few times a year, but has not yet seen them this year because of COVID-19 concerns.
“My daughter and I came close to canceling. Gov. Newsom is shutting things down more and we were very nervous. What if we get there and can’t get home?” she said. “But we just decided it is important to see my mom and dad, and share (a great-grandchild) with my parents.”
“They’re healthy. They seem to be rolling with it very well,” she said. “We’re excited. We’re vigilant about wearing masks in public and sanitizing. We feel like the benefit to the family as far as morale outweigh the risks at this point.”
The number of fliers has been on the increase since April, when passenger levels nationally dropped to a low of just 87,000 in one day.
Airlines have been pushing in recent weeks to assure fliers that air travel is safer than people thought earlier in the pandemic.
Southwest Airlines, which handles more than half of flights in and out of Sacramento International Airport, says it is flying at 77% capacity this Thanksgiving compared to last. Prior to Thanksgiving, earlier this month, it was flying at 66% of the 2019 level.
This story was originally published November 23, 2020 at 10:27 AM.