Empty Seats, Delivered Feasts As Virus Changes Thanksgiving
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Harbour House Aruba Friday November 27, 2020 T: 582-7800 www.arubatoday.com facebook.com/arubatoday instagram.com/arubatoday Page 8 Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper Empty seats, delivered feasts as virus changes Thanksgiving By REGINA GARCIA CANO, MATT SEDENSKY and HEATH- ER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press Vivian Zayas can't keep herself from scrolling through photos of last Thanksgiving, when her mother stood at the stove to make a big pot of rice and beans and then took a seat at the edge of the table. That was before anyone had heard of COVID-19 and before it claimed the retired seamstress. Ana Martin- ez died at 78 on April 1 while recovering at a nursing home from a knee replacement. The family is having their traditional meal of turkey, yams, green beans and rice and beans — but Zayas is removing a seat from the table at her home in Deer Park, New York, and putting her mother's walker in its place. "It's a painful Thanksgiving. You don't even know, should you celebrate?" asked Zayas. "It's a lonely time." The family is left with "an empty chair at the table for- ever," another daughter, Alexa Rivera, said Thursday. Americans are marking the Thanksgiving holiday amid an unrelenting pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than a quarter of a million people in the United States. Turkey and pies will still come out ovens, football will still be on TV, families will still give thanks and have lively Evelyn Maysonet looks at the food delivery from the Weber-Morgan Health Department Tuesday, conversations about politics. Nov. 24, 2020, in Ogden, Utah. Continued on next page Associated Press A2 FRIDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2020 UP FRONT Continued from Front petizers for the early after- But this holiday has been noon meal. The sons are utterly altered after months bringing side dishes. Tur- filled with sorrows and key and the fixings are the hardships: Many feasts are main course. Champagne weighed down by the loss may be cracked. of loved ones; others have Forsyth hasn't seen his fam- been canceled or scaled ily much during the pan- back with the virus surging. demic but wanted to save Zoom and FaceTime calls the holiday. have become a fixture "People are trying to live a at dinner tables to con- normal life," he said. "And, nect with family members you know, with the second who don't want to travel. wave coming now, it's not a Far fewer volunteers are bad idea to be prepared." helping at soup kitchens Kerry Osaki longs to see his or community centers. A now-grown children, with- Utah health department out masks, and hug them. has been delivering boxes But instead he and his wife of food to residents who are celebrating just the two are infected with the virus of them after their traditions and can't go to the store. were upended. A New York nursing home Osaki's 93-year-old mother, is offering drive-up visits for Rose, who lived with the Nursing home residents hold signs as staff members walk by during a Thanksgiving celebration at families of residents strug- the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020, in New York. couple in Orange County gling with celebrating the Associated Press in California, died from the holiday alone. virus after all three got sick. "The holidays make it a little ed to do something unique ments, a side potato salad, tion that was, 'This year may With his mother gone, Osa- harder," said Harriet Kra- to mark this unusual holiday a cookie and utensils. be different, and that's OK. ki, 67, and his cousin de- kowsky, an 85-year-old resi- — something to let every- From start to finish, Thanks- It is one year. If things are cided to pass on the fam- dent of the Hebrew Home one know that she and her giving is different this year different this year and that ily's annual Thanksgiving at Riverdale in New York husband still feel blessed for Jessica Franz, a nurse means we get to see all get-together. His wife, Lena who misses the big Thanks- this year. who works the graveyard the rest of our family next Adame, typically spent the giving celebrations of years So, a week before Thanks- shift at Olathe Medical year, it is OK,'" said Franz, holiday cooking a spread past and has lost neighbors giving, armed with colored Center, in a Kansas City who has personally cared of turkey and stuffing with and friends to the virus. "I pens and stickers of owls suburb. for patients dying of coro- her relatives — but some cry, but I get over it. We with scarves, she hand For one, Franz, 39, is cel- navirus. had seen virus cases at their have to go on." wrote notes of gratitude to ebrating without her moth- The Thanksgiving gathering workplaces, so the couple On any normal Thanksgiv- every member of the fam- er-in-law, Elaine Franz, who at David Forsyth's home in decided to skip that, too. ing Day, Kara McKlemurry ily. died of the coronavirus on Southern California, mean- "It's just been a long, rough and her husband would "We're so grateful to have Nov. 10, just one day be- while, comes with a unique- and sometimes sad year," drive from their Clearwater, you in our lives," she wrote fore her 78th birthday. In ly 2020 feel: rapid virus tests he said. Florida, home to one of two on a card with a cartoon previous years, her moth- at the door to decide who In Ogden, Utah, Evelyn places: his family's home in fox, "even if we can't actu- er-in-law, who was Men- gets inside. Maysonet stepped out of another part of the state ally be together this year nonite, would lay out a The kit costs about $1,000 her home Tuesday morn- or her family's house in Ala- for the holidays." spread for her children and for 20 tests, each of which ing to find boxes overflow- bama. This year, McKlemur- In the nation's capital, the grandchildren. At Franz's involve pricking a finger ing with canned goods, ry informed her family there convention center is emp- work, in a typical year, co- and putting a drop of desserts and a turkey. She would be no visits. When ty unlike in previous years, workers would bring food blood on a tray. Ten min- has been isolating with her her in-laws offered to stop when volunteers have for a potluck. utes later the results either husband and son since all by, the couple said no. worked together to serve None of that is happening show someone is negative, three tested positive for She and her husband didn't a meal to about 5,000 this year. has antibodies or is positive. COVID-19. want to risk infecting any- people. In the era of social The family is shifting the fes- Normally, about 15 to 20 None of them has been one or getting the virus distancing, the sponsored tivities to Zoom and Face- people attend the fam- able to leave to buy gro- themselves. event had to be reimag- Time. It's been hard for her ily's Thanksgiving dinner in ceries, so they were thrilled Not everyone followed ined. daughters — ages, 2, 8 and Channel Islands Harbor. But to receive the health de- McKlemurry's example. Mil- Ahead of the holiday, or- 11. Her middle daughter this year, it will only be eight partment's delivery — and lions of Americans bought ganizers delivered to 20 was exposed to the coro- of them: Forsyth, his wife, the chance to cherish the tickets to fly somewhere nonprofits 5,000 gift bags, navirus at school and is her four adult sons and the things that matter most. for the holiday, crowding each with winter clothing quarantined until Dec. 3, partners of two of them. "As long as you have a life airports despite pleas from accessories, hand sanitiz- and her oldest daughter is His wife started cooking and you're still alive, just officials to avoid travel and er and a mask, and 5,000 struggling with the concept Tuesday. She's planning a make the best of it with you gatherings. boxes that included a tur- of a scaled-back holiday. cold cucumber soup for a and your family," Maysonet Still, McKlemurry, 27, want- key sandwich with condi- "We had a good conversa- starter and bunch of ap- said.q A3 U.S. NEWS FRIDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2020 High court blocks N.Y. virus limits on houses of worship By JESSICA GRESKO previously designated red WASHINGTON (AP) — With and orange zones. In those coronavirus cases surging red and orange zones, the again nationwide, the Su- state had capped atten- preme Court barred New dance at houses of wor- York from enforcing certain ship at 10 and 25 people, limits on attendance at respectively. But the those churches and synagogues particular areas are now in areas designated as designated as yellow zones hard hit by the virus. with less restrictive rules nei- The justices split 5-4 late ther group challenged. Wednesday night, with The justices acted on an new Justice Amy Coney emergency basis, tempo- Barrett in the majority. It rarily barring New York from was the conservative's first enforcing the restrictions publicly discernible vote as against the groups while a justice. The court's three their lawsuits continue. In liberal justices and Chief an unsigned opinion the Justice John Roberts dis- court said the restrictions sented.