Health experts concerned about coronavirus spread at Thanksgiving gatherings

There is concern it could be a perfect storm of virus transmission.

"I can not sugarcoat how nervous I am. We are going to come into a grim December and to be brutally honest, people will die as a consequence of Thanksgiving. That is horrible, but I don't know how else to put it," said Dr. Cameron Wolfe, an infectious disease specialist at Duke University Hospital.

"We know that people miss their families, we know they're looking for the solace of companionship and that is going to make it easier for us to come in contact with somebody who exposes us to COVID," said Dr. Charles Harr, the chief medical examiner at WakeMed Hospital.

Harr said WakeMed emergency workers are treating those with coronavirus, but patients who need regular hospitalization have been sicker this year than years past.

"They seem to be sick, or whether that’s because they waited earlier in the year and they’re worse now, or the stress of everything that’s going on in our lives and that seems to make our medical problems a little worse right now," he added.

Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations from the virus are surging across North Carolina.

North Carolina Coronavirus dashboard - Maps, charts and data

"Thanksgiving, when celebrated well, is a day when we travel and mix our bubbles with our family members with young and asymptomatic people with old and frail and at-risk people," said Wolfe.

"Our COVID numbers have gone up from having mid-20s all of last week. We had 41 COVID patients hospitalized this morning. The most we had back in July was about 45 so we are approaching a second peak," explained Butler.

We only have a couple months before we get a widespread release of vaccine in the community. There is a light at the end of the tunnel" said Wolfe. "Doing it right this Thanksgiving and Christmas guarantees next year is going to be okay."

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