President-elect Joe Biden said it is the public’s “patriotic duty” to “forgo” Thanksgiving traditions in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
“This year, we are asking Americans to forgo so many of the traditions that we’ve long made this holiday,” Biden said during a 17-minute pre-Thanksgiving address in Delaware on Wednesday. “This year, because we care so much for each other, we’re going to be having a separate Thanksgiving for Jill and I, who will be at our home in Delaware with our daughter and our son-in-law. The rest of the family will be doing the same thing in small groups.”
He continued: “We have to try to slow the growth of this virus. We owe it to the doctors and nurses and other front-line workers — care workers who risked their lives, some lost their lives, put so much on the line in the heroic battle against this virus. … We owe that to our fellow citizens who need access to hospital beds and care. We owe it to one another. It’s literally our patriotic duty as Americans. It means wearing a mask, keeping social distance, limiting the size of any group we’re in until we have a vaccine. These are the most effective tools to combat the virus.”
Biden added that the country deserves the truth from the president.
“Many local health systems are at risk of being overwhelmed. That’s the plain and simple truth. … I believe you always deserve to hear the truth, hear the truth from your president,” he said.
Democratic politicians across the country have told people to refrain from congregating during the holiday season as the total number of coronavirus cases worldwide hit 60 million this week.
Several of those politicians have drawn scrutiny for making those requests and then disregarding them, including most recently the mayor of Denver who told residents to avoid travel and then took a flight to Texas to see family members.
Author: Andrew Mark Miller
Source: Washington Examiner: Biden urges people to fulfill their ‘patriotic duty’ and ‘forgo’ Thanksgiving traditions to slow coronavirus
