Celebrate freedom by staying home
As pandemic grows worse, officials urge scaled-back plans
ATLANTA — On the website for American Legion Post 410 in Lakehills, Texas, an image shows a bald eagle soaring in front of an American flag. But just below the patriotic picture is the bad news that the unrelenting spread of the coronavirus has mostly grounded the tiny community’s Fourth of July celebrations.
“Due to the Governor of Texas shutting down the state again — the Parade has been canceled,” the site says. “The live band has been canceled.”
It is a familiar reality from coast to coast, as the nation staggers toward a holiday weekend burdened by a pandemic that’s growing worse. In the face of cases reaching disheartening new highs, and as 13 states set single-day reporting records this week, health officials around the country have urged Americans to scale back their holiday plans.
In Nebraska, state leaders suggested that holiday cookout hosts keep guest lists to make contact tracing easier if there was an outbreak. The Oregon Health Authority warned residents that “the safest choice this holiday is to celebrate at home.” And in Los Angeles County, where over 12,000 new cases have been announced since Friday, the health department ordered beaches closed and fireworks shows canceled.
Elsewhere, the pleas were similar: Skip the party. Stay home. Do not make a bad situation worse.
“Wedon’t want any more closures, but our numbers are going through the roof,” said Dr. Cameron Kaiser, the public health officer in Riverside County, California. “Please don’t mix households, even if you think everyone is healthy, and instead celebrate the holiday with the people you live with.
“We started seeing more and more cases after Memorial Day, and we can’t afford another jump after the Fourth of July.”
The cancellations have lent a sullen tone to the typical listings of Independence Day events: “What Can You Do This Fourth of July in Idaho?” a headline asks on the website of a Boise TV station, before suggesting ways to socially distance while celebrating. At the same time, the anti-racism street protests that swelled across the country after George Floyd died in police custody on Memorial Day have prompted more people to question whether they should celebrate at all.
In Atlanta, Scotty Smart, 33, an activist and founder of a nonprofit group called the Smart Foundation, said he had been asked to speak at “Forget the Fourth” events being held around town.
“When you look at the history of July 4, we weren’t necessarily free, so how can we celebrate our independence?” Smart said, speaking of his fellow African Americans.
In recent years, Smart has reserved much of his celebratory spirit for the Juneteenth holiday, which falls on June 19 and commemorates the day in 1865 that enslaved Black people i n Galveston, Texas, learned they were free. This year, Smart helped organize a Juneteenth celebration in Atlanta that he said attracted thousands of people.
But this week, Smart’s July 4 plans were in question. Last week, he came down with a fever. On Wednesday, he was awaiting the results of a coronavirus test.
“Every time there’s a large gathering we take a risk,” he said. “We can’t sugarcoat it.”
With more than 50,000 new cases Thursday, the country set a daily record for the sixth time in nine days. Texas, North Carolina and Tennessee all saw new highs. The virus was also surging again in some places that had improved, including Delaware, where new clusters in beachfront cities led Gov. John Carney, a Democrat, to close some bars ahead of the holiday.
“Clearly we’ve had an outbreak among bars, restaurants, social activities in Delaware beaches,” said Carney, who noted “complacency in mask wearing and social distancing.”
In South Dakota, which has had relatively few cases of the coronavirus, President Donald Trump has organized a fireworks show Friday evening at Mount Rushmore, an event that has come under scrutiny because thousands of people are planning to attend.
The National Park Service said in an email that it “strongly” encouraged social distancing and the use of face coverings, but added that officials would “not take actions against individuals who do not wear cloth face coverings or adhere to the guidance.”
Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican who plans to attend the event, told Fox News that “we won’t be social distancing.”
In Washington, D.C., authorities are plowing ahead with a traditional July 4 celebration. David Bernhardt, the Secretary of the Interior, announced in a news release this week that a “one-of-a-kind air show” and a fireworks display “that promises to be the largest in recent memory,” with more than 10,000 fireworks launched.
Like last year, Trump will preside over that event, and federal authorities seemed to be preparing for considerable crowds: The Interior Department said more than 300,000 cloth masks would be available for visitors.
Muriel Bowser, the city’s mayor, criticized the event, according to CNN, saying it was not in keeping with federal health officials’ guidelines for gathering during the pandemic.
In South Florida, officials have been focused on how to minimize large crowds of sun-seekers. In recent days, counties from the Florida Keys to Palm Beach announced that the beaches would be closed. In some places, parks will also be off limits, to avoid the typical mass gatherings that watch fireworks displays.