Covid-19 may have a major impact on family traditions during the holidays. Issues which have kept families apart during the past eight months may continue through the Thanksgiving and Holiday seasons. 

Families have limited traveling access by airplane, car, ship, and train, since March of the past year, when quarantine took effect in the U.S. If social distancing continues during the holidays, families should avoid being in cabins of airplanes, ships, and trains. Even traveling by car will be difficult with closures of rest areas that are needed for travelers.    

Students and their families across the country will be facing the decision of whether or not they should get together with their families during the holidays or not. 

A senior at Oakdale High School, Tyler Antonellis chimed in,  “My family is not making any plans to travel anywhere for both these holidays. For Thanksgiving most of my grandparents are traveling to come to us. My family always stays home for Christmas.”

A freshman at Oakdale High School, Nozia Rangwala-vohra, remarked, “We are making plans to see family during Christmas time, because as long as we are careful, it should all work out.” Her family is planning to self quarantine for two weeks before Thanksgiving.

According to Antonellis , one tradition that may change during the Thanksgiving break due to the coronavirus outbreak is “being with my sister because she is having a baby during the holidays.”

Rangwala-vohra family tradition is to go on a vacation during the holidays, but due to COVID this cannot be possible.    

Some people are still undecided on whether or not to travel during the holidays. Sarah Welty, who is the horticulture teacher at OHS, is not sure if she will travel or not during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays: “I am undecided at this point,” she said. 

“My parents are in the high-risk age group and my daughter has health issues,” she added. 

Mrs.Welty anticipates problems if she travels during the holidays. She commented, “Problems will be taking masks off and not social distancing by wanting to be ‘normal’. Resisting the urge to hug and shake hands with new people is the hardest part of gathering.” 

Although COVID-19 may have a negative impact on families during the holidays, some people such as Mrs.Welty, see it as a time to create and develop new family traditions. Students, teachers, and their families will have a chance to experience new ways to celebrate this year.