U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams warned all Americans, including the White House, to avoid large Thanksgiving and other holiday gatherings in order to prevent a spike in what are already grim numbers coming from the continued outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Watch the turkey pardon live in the video player above at 2 p.m. ET.
This year, the atmosphere surrounding Tuesday's pardon is notably more subdued.
As the weather has cooled, virus cases have surged and more than 250,000 people have died.
"Pressed on whether he had concerns about White House holiday plans, Mr Adams said: "(Best practices) apply to the White House; they apply to the American people; they apply to everyone.
In the first major sign of the president accepting the reality of his defeat, the Trump administration on Monday formally recognized the Biden transition, freeing up government resources and outgoing and incoming teams to coordinate.
Corn, and its friend Cob, travelled to the United States capital from their home in Iowa by the National Turkey Federation, but after an online vote just Corn was given the honour of receiving a presidential pardon. Trump pardoned a turkey named Corn, whose partner Cob also made the trip to Washington from their farm in Iowa.
But while Arabella and Theo seemed thrilled to get the chance to spend time with Corn at the event, their brother Joseph, seven, was more hesitant, choosing instead to sit back with his parents while his siblings played with the Iowan bird on the White House lawn. As of noon on Tuesday, Corn had a almost eight-point lead on Cobb in the poll.
In 2018, Mr Trump joked about one of the turkeys contesting the pardon election.
According to the White House website, Corn, whose favorite snack is sweet corn, was hatched on July 20, 2020 and weighs just over 19 kilograms.
"This was a fair election", the president joked two years ago.
"Unfortunately, Carrots refused to concede and demanded a recount, and we're still fighting with Carrots", Trump said at the time. She told us herself, in the secretly recorded audio where she exclaims, "I'm working ... my a** off on the Christmas stuff, that you know, who gives a f*** about the Christmas stuff and decorations?" Thats too bad for Carrots.
But while only one turkey wins the official title of National Thanksgiving Turkey each year, the reality is that neither turkey will lose its life as a result of the White House ceremony.
The National Turkey Federation - which started giving presidents turkeys in 1947 - has spent $1.5 million on lobbying in the past decade, to keep up the Thanksgiving spectacle and to keep Americans interested in eating the festive bird.
