{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/chicken-on-turkey-day", "Chicken on Turkey Day", "2020-11-20", "2020", "2020-11", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "Should we do this? It\u2019s the question on everyone\u2019s mind right now. Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and we are all attempting to determine how best to celebrate the holidays in the age of a deadly pandemic. Everyone\u2019s situation is a little different. Some of us have big families, some of us have small families. But there\u2019s one thing we have in common: COVID-19 has impacted all of us in one way or another.\n\nAt the time I\u2019m writing this, there have been 741 deaths from COVID-19 in South Dakota. Let that sink in \u2013 741 deaths. That\u2019s more than the population of some towns in this state. In South Dakota, our communities are so tightly knit together that it feels like we\u2019re part of one big family. That\u2019s what makes this so difficult. This virus has taken from us our moms, our dads, our grandpas and grandmas, our sons and daughters. Our hearts grieve together.\n\nThis message isn\u2019t about Thanksgiving 2020. It\u2019s much bigger than that. This is about how we get through Thanksgiving 2020 so we can all enjoy Thanksgivings together for years to come. The good Lord blessed us in South Dakota with common sense. Now is the time to use it.\n\nFirst things first - wear your mask. If you\u2019re going to the grocery store to get your turkey, wear your mask. If you\u2019re going out to do Christmas shopping, wear your mask. Are there instances where wearing a mask isn\u2019t common sense? Certainly. But here\u2019s a good rule of thumb - if you\u2019re out in public and cannot socially distance, wear your mask. Wearing a mask isn\u2019t just about protecting you, it\u2019s about protecting others around you. Leaders wear masks.\n\nWe also need to remember the importance of washing our hands and using hand sanitizer. That\u2019s not only good advice to combat COVID-19, but also other more common ailments we face every year like the cold and flu.\n\nWhat we know about COVID-19 is that it disproportionately impacts those who are older. If you contract this virus and you\u2019re over the age of 70, the numbers show that you have a 7 percent chance of dying. If you\u2019re over 80, your risk rises to 13.4 percent. Those numbers are getting close to the odds you\u2019d have when playing Russian roulette with a loaded revolver.\n\nThose numbers are one reason that gathering this Thanksgiving is difficult for families. From experience, I know that you can\u2019t keep grandkids off grandparents. And it\u2019s pretty tough to keep grandparents away from grandkids, too. While grandkids might not display symptoms, they can still carry the virus and that can be dangerous.\n\nIf you are worried about getting sick, stay home. If you are worried that you are sick and might infect someone else, stay home. If you have a \u201ccold\u201d you might actually have COVID-19. Stay home. If you\u2019re worried about your kids getting your parents or grandparents sick, stay home. We live in the 21st century. Whether it\u2019s FaceTime, Skype or another platform, there are methods for us to be together while apart. It\u2019s okay to be a chicken this Turkey Day.\n\nHere\u2019s the point \u2013 the government isn\u2019t going to mandate how you should celebrate Thanksgiving. You have the power to decide what\u2019s best for your family. Vaccines are on the way, but in the meantime we must use our common sense to fight this virus and live to see another Thanksgiving. We\u2019ll get through this together.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-28T00:39:51Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/chicken-on-turkey-day"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7784490007907152, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}