WASHINGTON: With the coronavirus surging out of control, the nation’s top public health agency pleaded with Americans on Thursday not to travel for Thanksgiving and not to spend the holiday with people from outside their household.
It was some of the firmest guidance yet from the government on curtailing traditional gatherings to fight the outbreak.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued the recommendations just one week before Thanksgiving, at a time when diagnosed infections, hospitalizations and deaths are skyrocketing across the country. In many areas, the health care system is being squeezed by a combination of sick patients filling up beds and medical workers falling ill themselves.
The CDC’s Dr. Erin Sauber-Schatz cited more than 1 million new cases in the U.S. over the past week as the reason for the new guidance
“The safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving this year is at home with the people in your household,” she said.
If families do decide to include returning college students, military members or others for turkey and stuffing, the CDC is recommending that the hosts take added precautions: Gatherings should be outdoors if possible, with people keeping 6 feet apart and wearing masks and just one person serving the food.
Where Americans heed the warning is another matter. The deadly comeback by the virus has been blamed in part on pandemic fatigue, or people getting tired of masks and other precautions. And surges were seen last summer after Memorial Day and July, despite blunt warnings from health authorities.
The United States has seen more than 11 million diagnosed infections and over 250,000 deaths from the coronavirus. CDC scientists believe that somewhere around 40% of people who are infected do not have obvious symptoms but can still spread the virus.”
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US government recommends not traveling over Thanksgiving
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US government recommends not traveling over Thanksgiving
Number of UK young people not in work or education nears 1 million
- Rate of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) is sometimes seen as a better guide to labor market difficulties
- The latest NEET rate is equivalent 12.8 percent of the workforce, up from 12.7 percent in the last quarter
LONDON: Nearly 1 million Britons aged 16-24 were not in employment, education or training at the end of last year, the second-highest level in more than a decade, according to official data released on Thursday.
The rate of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) is sometimes seen as a better guide to labor market difficulties than the headline youth unemployment rate, which was the highest in 10 years in the last quarter of 2025.
Thursday’s data showed that the number of NEETs aged 16-24 rose to 957,000 in the last quarter of 2025 from 946,000 the quarter before — just short of 971,000 in the final quarter of 2024 which was the highest since 2014.
The latest NEET rate is equivalent 12.8 percent of the workforce, up from 12.7 percent in the last quarter but below a 10-year high of 13.2 percent a year earlier and compares to an unemployment rate of 16.1 percent for 16-64 year olds.
Earlier this week, Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill told a parliament committee that a rise in the minimum wage and employer social security charges had contributed to the difficulty young people face in getting a foothold in the job market.
This view is shared by many academic economists: 15 out of 19 in a poll by Britain’s National Institute of Economic and Social Research and the London School of Economics’ Center for Macroeconomics judged that government policy had a were a “very” or “moderately important” driver of youth unemployment.
LSE economics professor Ricardo Reis said “government policy changes are the most likely proximate cause for such large movements in young joblessness,” though he added that there was not conclusive evidence, and others pointed to broader economic weakness and artificial intelligence as factors.
Louise Murphy, a senior economist at the Resolution Foundation think tank, said finance minister Rachel Reeves should use a fiscal statement next week to widen eligibility for work placements and to pause plans to narrow the gap between the minimum wage rates for 18-20 year olds and older workers.
The rate of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) is sometimes seen as a better guide to labor market difficulties than the headline youth unemployment rate, which was the highest in 10 years in the last quarter of 2025.
Thursday’s data showed that the number of NEETs aged 16-24 rose to 957,000 in the last quarter of 2025 from 946,000 the quarter before — just short of 971,000 in the final quarter of 2024 which was the highest since 2014.
The latest NEET rate is equivalent 12.8 percent of the workforce, up from 12.7 percent in the last quarter but below a 10-year high of 13.2 percent a year earlier and compares to an unemployment rate of 16.1 percent for 16-64 year olds.
Earlier this week, Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill told a parliament committee that a rise in the minimum wage and employer social security charges had contributed to the difficulty young people face in getting a foothold in the job market.
This view is shared by many academic economists: 15 out of 19 in a poll by Britain’s National Institute of Economic and Social Research and the London School of Economics’ Center for Macroeconomics judged that government policy had a were a “very” or “moderately important” driver of youth unemployment.
LSE economics professor Ricardo Reis said “government policy changes are the most likely proximate cause for such large movements in young joblessness,” though he added that there was not conclusive evidence, and others pointed to broader economic weakness and artificial intelligence as factors.
Louise Murphy, a senior economist at the Resolution Foundation think tank, said finance minister Rachel Reeves should use a fiscal statement next week to widen eligibility for work placements and to pause plans to narrow the gap between the minimum wage rates for 18-20 year olds and older workers.
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