COVID-19’s Effect on Thanksgiving for Students and Their Families

     Whether students at Aliso Niguel High School celebrate the thanksgiving holiday or not, they often have family members that live in different areas visit them during their break. However, due to COVID-19 and the newfound uprising of cases in the Orange County area, students and their families have changed their plans.

     Sophomore Gael Cortes generally has large family gatherings. However this year he is uncertain whether a large gathering will exist. He believes if he does have family members over it will only be a few uncles. Gael believes that social distancing the usage of masks are very important. Therefore, any visiting family members will continue to social distance during their gathering and wear masks.

     Saghar Naderi (10) does not celebrate Thanksgiving. However, she and her family take advantage of the break and often use this time to visit distant family members. She has explained that “One of [her] cousins from Georgia is visiting this year.” Although she does not personally believe that traveling is very appropriate at this time, she and her family are making sure her cousin takes proper precautions to lessen the chance of obtaining and spreading COVID-19. Her cousin has been socially distancing for over two weeks now and will get tested before traveling over to California. 

Marly Wahba (10) also generally has larger family gatherings. These gatherings generally have many of her aunts, uncles, and her cousins present. However this year, they have decided that a family gathering will not take place. Marly and her family are strong believers of social distancing and believe that Thanksgiving should not be celebrated with many people. She believes that it is inappropriate at this time and that there are other ways to safely celebrate this holiday. Although it is not the same, she suggested that facetime can be utilized in order to still celebrate with family.