Zoom Will Lift Its 40-Minute Time Limit On Thanksgiving Day
On Thanksgiving day, have a free and socially distant holiday with unlimited Zoom calls
Thanksgiving is upon us and COVID cases are on the rise, leaving many families wondering how to safely celebrate Thanksgiving this year, if at all. Now with CDC officials urging Americans to cancel their holiday travel plans, a digital Thanksgiving might be in store this year and thanks to Zoom — the official app of 2020 — they’ve ditched their pesky 40-minute “meeting limit” for one day only: Thanksgiving.
If you’ve been relying on Zoom since March to “see” friends and family during the pandemic, you basically have to know someone who upgraded their Zoom account, otherwise, you get kicked out at the 40-minute mark. Maybe you’re like me and you just let the call drop out at minute 40 and then call back and waste a few minutes joking about technology and 2020 (ugh, everything, amirite?), but now on Thanksgiving you don’t have to.
From midnight EST on November 26, 2020, through 6 a.m. EST on November 27, 2020, there will be no limit on Zoom calls globally. While a Zoom Thanksgiving might not be the ideal Thanksgiving, it’s the safest option right now, and honestly, with all the love and business Zoom got this year, a day of free and unlimited Zoom calls is the least they can do for us. And with unlimited Zoom calling, you could literally live stream the entire day, from the Macy’s parade in the morning to the last slice of pumpkin pie at night.
The gesture is clearly a hit as people have been tweeting at the video conferencing giant to do the same thing for Christmas or even extend the unlimited calling for the entirety of the Thanksgiving weekend.
The U.S. has surpassed 11 million Covid-19 cases according to Johns Hopkins University and every health official is strongly urging Americans to reconsider their usual Thanksgiving plans.
“Right now, especially as we’re seeing this sort of exponential growth in cases, and the opportunity to translocate disease or infection from one part of the country to another, it leads to our recommendation to avoid travel at this time,” Dr. Henry Walke, the CDC’s COVID-19 incident manager, said on a call with reporters (via NBC News).
Last month, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN that Thanksgiving is going to look a lot different this year and shared that he and his wife would not spend time with their adult daughters this year for fear of risking their health.
“…You better hold off and maybe just have immediate family, and make sure you do it in a way that people wear masks, and you don’t have large crowds of people,'” Dr. Fauci said.
I know everyone’s exhausted by the phrase “new normal,” but this Thanksgiving is one for the digital-world record books. Thankfully, Zoom is on our side.
