Biden, Trump celebrate Thanksgiving at home
Democratic Presidentelect Joe Biden and sitting Republican President Donald Trump, like millions of Americans, celebrated Thanksgiving quietly at home yesterday, as the coronavirus pandemic raged across the United States.
The highly-contagious coronavirus causes the Covid-19 respiratory disease.
Biden was spending the holiday in the small seaside town of Rehoboth, Delaware, where he and his wife Jill have a vacation home.
The Bidens hosted daughter Ashley Biden and her husband Dr Howard Krein for the holiday meal.
The former vice-president, appearing with his wife Jill in a video message posted to his Twitter account on Thanksgiving, said his family typically holds a large gathering on the island of Nantucket off Massachusetts, but would remain in Delaware this year “with just a small group around our dinner table” because of the pandemic.
In the presidential-style address to a nation that has lost more than 260,000 lives to the coronavirus, Biden said that Americans were making a “shared sacrifice for the whole country” and a “statement of common purpose” by staying at home with their immediate families.
“I know this isn’t the way many of us hoped we’d spend our holiday. We know that a small act of staying home is a gift to our fellow Americans,” said Biden, who will be sworn in as president on January 20. “I know better days are coming.”
Trump often likes to celebrate holidays at his Mar-a-Largo resort in Florida, but yesterday he remained in the Washington area, spending part of the morning at his Trump National Golf Club in Virginia.
It was a far cry from last year when he made a surprise visit to Afghanistan, where he served turkey to US troops before sitting down to eat Thanksgiving dinner with them.
In contrast to Biden, who pleaded with Americans to celebrate the holiday safely by wearing masks and socially distancing, Trump in his Thanksgiving proclamation on Wednesday urged Americans to “gather” for the holiday.
“I encourage all Americans to gather, in homes and places of worship, to offer a prayer of thanks to God for our many blessings,” the president, who recovered from his own case of Covid-19 last month, said in a statement.
Trump has frequently ignored public health warnings and hosted large groups at the White House, with many of his guests refusing to wear masks.
In addition to Trump, several other prominent Americans, including First Lady Melania
Trump and members of Congress, have tested positive for Covid-19 following such events.
While fewer Americans than normal are expected to travel this year for Thanksgiving, millions still defied pleas from state and local officials and health experts to make their way to family gatherings rather than stay home, despite a spiralling infection rate.
US deaths from Covid-19 surpassed 2,000 in a single day on Tuesday for the first time since May, and hospitalisations reached a record of more than 89,000 on Wednesday.