New Mexico Governor: ‘You Can’t Enforce’ Rule Limiting Thanksgiving Gatherings To 5 People

Family
Recent studies from Pew Research Center reveal many teens seem to attend worship services out of their parents' desire rather than their own. |

New Mexico Governor Grisham recently admitted that there's no way anybody can limit the number of family members that will celebrate Thanksgiving together.

In an interview on Nov. 20, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said there is no way they will be able to limit the number of family members celebrating this year's Thanksgiving Day with the way Americans normally observe the annual celebration.

Amna Nawaz, PBS News Hour Senior National Correspondent, raised the issue on New Mexico's newly revised rule on Public Health Order. The correspondent asked the governor how the State plans to begin to enforce the restriction, with the fact that most of the coronavirus spread is largely due to small family gatherings such as the upcoming Thanksgiving Day.

"So, you ask one of the most important questions," Grisham said. "You can't enforce that. There is no way, anywhere in the country, we're going to be able to say, look, you brought another household together. There [were] ten of you having Thanksgiving dinner."

Despite admitting that there is no way they will be able to enforce the rule limiting the Thanksgiving Day celebration to five persons in any part of the country, she said she is still hoping that people will "take heed" of the order.

She reminded everyone that the novel coronavirus does not care about who people are or their age or their political affiliations. She added that the State government is worried about what they have to face a month after the 2020 Thanksgiving Day given the high risk of COVID-19 spread.

During the beginning of the pandemic, it took 100 days for New Mexico to reach 10,000 novel coronavirus positive cases. However, it recently recorded a spike rising from 60,000 to 70,000 cases in a span of seven days.

On Nov.13, the New Mexico Department of Health issued a revision on the existing Public Health Order. The revised version of the policy prohibits the gathering of more than five individuals from different households. The restriction applies to both indoor and outdoor assemblies.

Almost similar to other states such as Nevada, New Mexico strongly encouraged citizens to stay at home. The policy requires businesses and non-profit entities to reduce their in-person workforce by 100 percent.

Essential businesses, on the other hand, are allowed to operate with a skeletal workforce, while food services can only do deliveries. Indoor or outdoor dining are prohibited, according to Breitbart.

Thankfulness

Results from a recent survey conducted by LifeWay Research indicate that it will even be harder for the New Mexico government to implement the said rule limiting the number of family members celebrating Thanksgiving together under one roof. the number of people gathering to five. This is because the study found that Americans are now more thankful for their families than before.

The survey figures revealed that US family members are thankful to have their families around this 2020 Thanksgiving Day. The results show that Americans are more likely to be grateful for family members now more than anything else. The study also showed an increase in the number of respondents that have a lot to thank for in life after the pandemic than they did four years ago.

A recent survey also unveiled that COVID-19 hasn't deterred many Americans' desire to celebrate Thanksgiving the way they normally do: without masks, social distancing, and so on.