Chicago’s Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot put out a proclamation Thursday telling residents that she was canceling “traditional Thanksgiving celebrations” in their homes because of the coronavirus.
Lightfoot posted her advisory to Twitter in which she added that Chicagoans should “avoid travel” and must “not have guests in their homes”:
The mayor’s attempt to cancel Thanksgiving came as part of her stay-at-home orders for November aimed at mitigating the spread of the coronavirus.
The mayor also discussed her moves against Thanksgiving in a Thursday press conference where she insisted, “You must cancel the normal Thanksgiving plans. Particularly if they include guests that do not live in your immediate household,” she said.
Lightfoot claimed that coronavirus cases are “doubling every 12 days,” and by Thanksgiving, the city could see 4,000 cases per day.
“Chicago has reached a critical point in the second surge of COVID-19, demanding that we undertake this multi-faceted and comprehensive effort to stop the virus in its tracks,” the mayor exclaimed.
Meanwhile, only days before Lightfoot delivered her edict, she was seen on the streets of Chicago among hundreds of revelers as they celebrated the apparent elevation of Joe Biden to the presidency.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker echoed Lightfoot’s dire warnings for the track of the virus approaching Thanksgiving and warned that he is planning another full shutdown of the state.
“I’m very concerned as we approach Thanksgiving,” Pritzker said. “I’m very concerned as these numbers rise. And as a result, as I’ve told you, for days, you know, we are looking at really all the possibilities – the possibility that we would have to go back a phase, the possibility that we would have to ultimately have a stay-at-home order – those are not things that I prefer to do. But those are things that these numbers are not sustainable.”
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