Political Cartoon: Early Thanksgiving superspreaders

No one means to spread deadly diseases to dinner mates, but a lot of us seem to have shared COVID-19 rather extravagantly given the rising number of cases in Philadelphia and around the country. As we celebrate Thanksgiving, it does us well to remember that the Native people the Pilgrims first encountered had already been decimated by disease, now thought to be leptospirosis, brought by earlier European visitors. The Pilgrims and other Europeans brought cholera and smallpox among other illnesses new to the continent that may have eventually killed 90% of Native people.

The Pilgrims may not have realized what they carried, but we know what we might be. There’s no excuse not to try to keep from sharing it with our friends, family, and neighbors.

Editorial cartoons from this week include: