KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said his family’s Thanksgiving plans next week will be different due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and encouraged Missourians to make similar decisions.
“Our Thanksgiving will not look like it has in years past,” Parson said during a press briefing Thursday morning.
The governor said he has relatives in high-risk categories that he did not want to risk exposing to the virus. He asked Missourians to make their own similar calculations.
“I recommend each and every one of you to do the same thing,” Parson said. “That said, as a fellow Missouri citizen, it’s up to me and you, and not government, to change the way we do Thanksgivings.”
Parson and Dr. Randall Williams, secretary of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, said residents needed to make tough, but wise decisions about their Thanksgiving plans.
“I don’t think anyone is going to have a Thanksgiving like they’ve always had,” Williams said.
Williams said he hopes this year’s Thanksgiving doesn’t become remembered as the one during which a family member was exposed to the virus and suffered any negative outcomes.
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