Ever since March, the coronavirus pandemic has caused a huge shift in our society. It’s changed how we approach school, social gatherings, sports and even going to the grocery store. 

Before the beginning of fall semester, Ashland University made the recommendation for students not to return to campus after Thanksgiving break in order to keep any potential sickness away from campus.

As the holiday season is getting closer and COVID cases are still rising in states across the country, many families are having to decide whether to keep their traditional plans or to cancel them to prevent any kind of spread of the virus.

Back in mid-October, Ohio Governor, Mike Dewine, urged families to plan ahead and minimize the size of family gatherings for Thanksgiving this year. Although this isn’t an ideal situation, it’s something that he assures will prevent any kind of spread within families.

When asked whether her family is making any changes to their Thanksgiving plans, senior Kassidy Lambert said that her family will just be visiting her grandma but won’t be seeing any extended family.

While she is just planning on seeing one other person outside of her immediate family, she still has slight concerns about the overall safety of the situation. 

“I’m a little worried to see my grandma because she is older and that would be the last person I would wanna give [the virus] to,” Lambert said.

On the other hand, junior Emily Kuklinski’s family doesn’t usually have plans on Thanksgiving so the recommendations from the Governor didn’t phase her too much. However, she explained that her cousin’s family who typically has a large gathering is making some changes to their plans.

“My cousin lives in D.C. and she’s still gonna drive up, but she doesn’t want any of the extended family there. There’s usually around 20 people there, but this year there’s only gonna be four,” she said.

Despite any changes that families might be making to their Thanksgiving plans, Lambert reminds others that even though being together in person might not be possible for everyone, they are  always just a phone call away. 

“Whoever you’re with it’s gonna be a special day and you can still make it good,” she said. “Call your family or zoom with them and still make it special.”