November 23, 2020
Albany, NY

Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo Reminds New Yorkers, 'This is Not a Normal Thanksgiving'

Governor Cuomo: "Let's think of Thanksgiving as a time to yes, really give thanks to the people who really did phenomenal things this year, those doctors and nurses who were just amazing, all the essential workers, all the neighbors who went out and shopped for their neighbor and helped them out. All the senior citizens who had the worst year, who couldn't see their family, who were in nursing homes with no visitation, who were scared for themselves because they were the number one targets for COVID. Every person who wears a mask be thankful for them that they care enough to do it. Every restaurant owner, business owner, bar owner who lived by the rules and who suffered economically to keep their business open. Every police officer, every EMS worker. Every bus driver and train operator who had to stand there with hundreds of people walking past them all through COVID."

Governor Cuomo: "It's not the traditional Thanksgiving. It's better than that. It's deeper than that. It's more spiritual than that. It's more profound than that. Never in my life has there been a Thanksgiving that is more significant to me on such a deep level. It was about life and death this year."

Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo reminds New Yorkers to avoid holiday travel and gatherings ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.

A rush transcript is available below:

This is not a normal Thanksgiving. It's just not a normal Thanksgiving despite the commercialization. I'm sitting there last night. I'm watching television. All these commercials, Thanksgiving is coming, here is Thanksgiving, 20 people around a table, everybody drinking, passing turkey, laughing, kissing, hugging. Yeah, all beautiful pictures of Thanksgiving in the storybook setting, the way we wish it could be. Those commercials have nothing to do with what this Thanksgiving should be because those commercials are selling cranberry sauce and they're selling liquor and they're selling turkey stuffing so they're trying to say this should be a normal Thanksgiving, buy our product. I understand that.


This is not a normal Thanksgiving. My daughter Mariah calls, you know Mariah. She's in Chicago and she calls and very calmly we have a very rational conversation, she says she talked to the doctors, it would be risky for her to come home for Thanksgiving, she's in Chicago. Why? Well, they say even if I get a test I have to get on an airplane, an airplane is risky, I have to go through the airport, the airport is risky, it's such a time now where I can actually test negative but have the virus but the antibodies haven't shown yet, which is true, there is a lag. So she said I'm not going to come home for Thanksgiving because it's unsafe.

And we talked through alternatives, I said look, I'll get in a car, I'll come and I'll pick you up. She says that doesn't make sense, then we're in a car together for 10 hours and then I'm there, anywhere I can infect someone else. So we go through all the logic and we decide she's not going to come home for Thanksgiving and then she starts to cry and she said I feel so bad, I feel isolated, I feel trapped, I feel like I was looking forward to seeing you and I can't get there and those of you who have children know when your child cries it kills you. You feel pain worse than they feel pain.

I hang up the phone, I'm talking to my other daughter Michaela, I said boy, Mariah is upset, I don't know what to do, I don't know how to do it. Michaela, who is the baby but the baby sort of watches everybody else and sometimes has an insight on wisdom, she said, well, this is not a normal Thanksgiving. This is a special Thanksgiving. This is better than a normal Thanksgiving because it's more powerful and it's more meaningful and it's not just about the commercialization and the toppings.

Let's think about what Thanksgiving really means and really should mean when we say we give thanks because this is a year when we really should be thankful. And she's right, this Thanksgiving is more special than most Thanksgivings. It has a deeper meaning. Let's think of Thanksgiving as a time to yes, really give thanks to the people who really did phenomenal things this year, those doctors and nurses who were just amazing, all the essential workers, all the neighbors who went out and shopped for their neighbor and helped them out. All the senior citizens who had the worst year, who couldn't see their family, who were in nursing homes with no visitation, who were scared for themselves because they were the number one targets for COVID. Every person who wears a mask be thankful for them that they care enough to do it. Every restaurant owner, business owner, bar owner who lived by the rules and who suffered economically to keep their business open. Every police officer, every EMS worker. Every bus driver and train operator who had to stand there with hundreds of people walking past them all through COVID. Every reporter who goes out there to cover the story to tell people the truth. Those National Guard people. I remember looking at the National Guard when we were setting up the Javits Center and I saw fear in their eyes. It was like a stage from a movie, it was so frightening with all green uniforms, green trucks, army rations, army nurses. It was frightening. They were scared, but you know what? They were there. They didn't call in sick. They showed up.

Think about all the people who left their homes every day so that we could stay at home. Think about what I was saying to people every day, "It's dangerous. Stay home. I'm not kidding. Stay home, but not you essential worker. You have to show up, and you have to leave your house so everybody else can stay home." What a beautiful gesture. Be thankful for that. How about the thousands of families who this Thanksgiving know the person who's not there, because thousands and thousands of families lost someone. Why don't we really honor that this Thanksgiving? And saying yes, we're going to be alone physically but we are spiritually together celebrating in a way that is even deeper than just the proximate location of sitting next to someone. Yeah Mariah is going to be in Chicago, but you know what, the feeling of this Thanksgiving and my love for her and her gesture, and the way she helped me this year, and the way she helped other New Yorkers - she did the #MaskUp campaign - the fact that she cares enough not to come home was such a beautiful gesture of love. Thank you, Mariah, for thinking more of me than yourself and not coming home. We have to think of Thanksgiving that way. It's not that table. You're giving thanks and honoring your global family, and the family of New York, and everything that we did together this year. That's what we're thanking. That's what New York tough, smart, united, disciplined and loving means for this Thanksgiving. It's not a normal Thanksgiving. It's not the traditional Thanksgiving. It's better than that. It's deeper than that. It's more spiritual than that. It's more profound than that. Never in my life has there been a Thanksgiving that is more significant to me on such a deep level. It was about life and death this year. That's what we should give thanks to.

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