With holidays around the corner, several families are concerned. Some testing before events to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Maryanne Becker,community members testing before the holiday season d to the virus’s characteristics of quickly spreading. According to Harvard.edu, 37 percent of positive COVID-19 tests are false.

“I think you should just take it day-by-day, Becker said.- “Unless it comes down to symptoms, -then we’ll get tested. “There’s just a lot of false positives with (tests).”
Stella Mase ’23 and her family decided it would be best to celebrate the holiday season as normally as possible while still taking COVID-19 precautions, with most of their family testing before Nov. 26.
“My cousins, Domanique, Martineand (my) brother are all testing,” Mase said. “I don’t think you have to test unless you’re living in an environment with lots of people and exposure.”
On the opposing side, Grace Lidnsay ’23 said testing before Thanksgiving is crucial, especially for families who are gathering and celebrating the holiday as usual. According to Lindsey, testing is necessary to protect people with underlying conditions, as well as continuing to social distance and wear masks.
“For families that are having a normal Thanksgiving, they should definitely test, because grandparents and elderly people tend to be more susceptible to COVID” Lindsay said.
Lidnsay said she still continues to practice safety regulations, such as limiting the people she interacts with, and wearing a mask at all times, regardless of where she is.
“I think it’s important to wear masks,” Lindsay said. If I’m in (the) Village, walking down the Boulevard, (or) going to a friend’s “(house)”, I’ll wear a mask.”
Like Lindsay, Terry Burke believes testing her family and continuing to social distance is the best way to keep her 82 year-old parents healthy, as well as breaking their usual traditions of celebrating Thanksgiving with extended family and cheering on football games.
“This year is very different,” Burke said. “We won’t have anyone coming for Thanksgiving”. Instead we’re going to spend it with my parents who live here in Grosse Pointe.”
Brenda Brieden, RN at St. John hospital, strongly advises families to stay home for the holidays. Testing can be inaccurate, and even if people do test, they could contract the virus between the time they test and the time they see their family.
“It makes sense to go get tested, but our people going to go through that effort when its your family, people you trust and know, Brieden said. “You could get COVID-19 through kids, asymptomatic people, (and) it’s just going to turn into a super spreader event. Instead, you should just stay home and have a nice meal with your nuclear family.”
According to Brieden, St. John Hospital created spreadsheets that showed COVID from the beginning of March to the start of November, in which the demographics show a gradual change from elderly African Americans to younger white people, as well as a rise in asymptomatic patients.
“With the change in demographics, you have to be more aware and cautious,” Brieden said . “Some people think the virus is over and they can go back to their normal lives from before COVID. But in actuality, you still have to social distance, sanitize and just simply be safe.”