I was taking a walk this Thanksgiving Eve, as I often do, soaking up the feeling of people gathering for the holiday, when suddenly my phone (and others’ around me) sent a loud, jarring emergency alert tone (like when you get a severe weather or Amber alert).

It was none of the above, but rather a last-ditch Hail Mary by Governor Tom Wolf (greatly restricted by legislators since his Spring lockdowns) to keep people from traveling this Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately, despite warnings from the CDC (to literally not travel for Thanksgiving), recommendations, and (in some cases) mandates from government officials nationwide down to the local level, only a small reduction in Holiday Travel is happening this year, even though daily COVID-19 cases are up 7x the levels back in March, when most states had completely shut down.

The number of travelers (I think this is “by car” AAA data) is larger this Thanksgiving than 2008-2016. I was assuming it would be cut in half or more. Hopefully more people end up not traveling than those who said they would.

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We are not traveling to York, PA to be with my wife’s family for Thanksgiving this year. For my wife, it’s the first one she’s missed since she was a kid. Her parents came up last Saturday for a quick visit, masked and with the windows open. Tomorrow, we’ll cook our own turkey dinner for just the three of us, rather than risking infecting – or getting infected.