FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 25, 2020
Community leaders urge residents to change their Thanksgiving plans and cancel all holiday travel
Santa Clara County, CA - Citing concerns regarding continued surges in COVID-19 hospitalizations and new cases, with the County of Santa Clara’s Latinx community being most affected, County health officials and community leaders are strongly urging the public to celebrate Thanksgiving differently this year.
New daily case counts averaged 328 over the past 7 days. The County recorded its highest individual new case count for a single day with 512 new cases reported yesterday. The Centers for Disease Control recently announced the majority of COVID-19 cases are now transmitted through individuals without symptoms. Previous data has demonstrated an increase in case counts from past holiday weekends and Thanksgiving is one of the largest gathering events for friends and family.
In addition, with the change in climate, people may be putting themselves at greater risk of exposure with holiday events being held indoors in violation of the health orders.
Hospital rates have increased in conjunction with rising case counts. As of yesterday, local hospitals only had 68 beds available in intensive care. Latinos continue to be the most impacted, representing 58.4% of all cases despite accounting for only 25.8% of the population in Santa Clara County.
Santa Clara County leaders urge residents to refrain from travel, even during Thanksgiving holidays, to gather only outdoors with a maximum of three households in total, and to avoid crowded shopping areas and non-essential activities. Indoor gatherings of any kind with other households are not allowed.
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