OPINION: The CDC Recommends Frostbite for Thanksgiving

Heavy and wet snow was falling as I drove to work.  A little more than two weeks before Thanksgiving.  November is often the coldest month I’ve experienced in Southern Idaho.  A few years ago I cancelled Thanksgiving plans because of blowing snow and a high of 7 degrees.  Instead, I drove to Sizzler and had lunch instead of my other plans which called for driving to Boise.

It snows across much of the continental United States and it snows in the mountains of Hawaii.  Florida’s panhandle is no stranger to snow.

I’ve a vague memory of my parents taking us for a picnic one Christmas nearly 50 years ago but also a memory of a Christmas when four feet of snow fell overnight and another Christmas when it was 8 below zero as I drove to work.

Holidays between Halloween and Memorial Day offer no guarantees of nice weather.  A city where I worked for 15 years has twice had heavy snow on Mother’s Day since 1996.

I cite all of this as evidence when I say the folks at the Centers for Disease Control must plainly be nuts.  The CDC even suggests having a Thanksgiving feast outside.  In late November.  The organization is located in Atlanta, which while deep in the old south, isn’t immune when it comes to weather including cold and snow.  Remember, last spring the medical people said wearing masks wasn’t a good idea.  Then masks were a good idea.  It’s like the perennial fight over the health benefits of coffee.  Like the weather, it’s changeable.

Will we be getting guidance on holiday frostbite prevention?  How about ice beneath my chair?  Can I carve turkey with heavy gloves?

This Thanksgiving I’ll be doing the usual.  Enjoying some time with friends and loved ones.  No bureaucrats are invited.