The USA just reached 10 million reported COVID infections earlier this month. Now it’s beyond 12.5 million and is on track to hit 14 million by the end of the month. It’s been estimated that at least 3 million people are probably infectious right now, and many don’t know it because they’re asymptomatic. The real number could be a lot higher.

A few days ago we hit another new high: 204K new cases in one day. This is after just recently breaking 100K for the first time.

Deaths are still ticking up as well, now around 2K per day. I imagine that’s going to be a lot higher in December.

In some U.S. states, the infection rate is so high that even with a modest-sized family gathering, it’s likely that at least one attendee is infected.

Some places that were previously doing contact tracing have abandoned the practice because they can’t keep up with all of the cases.

In my state of Nevada, the Governor just tightened up some restrictions because the infection rate is surging here too. A couple of months ago, we were seeing 250-500 new cases per day. Now it’s around 2000 per day with a recent high of 2416. And the infection rate here is modest compared to what some places are currently seeing. Even so, a major hospital still had to convert a parking garage into overflow space for COVID patients, and it’s already being actively used.

This Thanksgiving will be the last one for many people who aren’t intelligent, informed, or caring enough to cancel family gatherings this year. Millions of people are heading for an avoidable trap.

If you intend to host or attend a family Thanksgiving event this year, think again and cancel those plans. It isn’t safe. Such behavior is incredibly reckless right now.

If you have some intractable and clueless relatives, would you rather see them terribly disappointed, terribly sick, or peacefully dead (after being unable to breathe for a while)?

A few weeks from now, a lot of people will be crying and wishing they’d made a different decision. Don’t be one of them.

Sometimes the right decision isn’t to seize an opportunity but to avoid a calamitous mistake. Remember that you’ll have the memory of what you do this Thanksgiving for the rest of you life. No matter what you decide, you’ll carry that memory into 2030, 2040, and beyond. Which memory do you want?

You only control one side of this decision. You don’t get to control reality’s responses. And reality is clearly queuing up a big lesson for a lot of people, namely that it doesn’t respect fools.

If this is all just common sense to you – and it absolutely should be – please also do your part to actively and vehemently discourage your friends and family from having family gatherings during this time.

I know from years of experience that while my readers tend to be very smart and sensible, many have relatives who are… how shall I put this… dumb as a stump. If that’s your situation, then here’s your chance to put your personal development investments into practice. Let’s see that fancy courage you’ve been working on all these years. Get aligned and stay aligned with truth. Don’t be loyal to ignorance and denial, even if you share some blood with it.

I can assure you that no one will die from our Thanksgiving, and no animals will be harmed either. Rachelle and I are staying put, and no one is coming over.

Use your brain and don’t be stupid this year.

There will be another time. Not this year.

If you need to use it as such, this article also doubles as a permission slip to skip Thanksgiving this year.