Millions of holiday travelers pass through airports despite COVID warnings, TSA says
Millions of people have passed through airport checkpoints ahead of the holidays, despite a surge in coronavirus cases and public health warnings about traveling during the pandemic.
Sunday was the third day in a row that saw more than a million people pass through airport security checkpoints — marking the first time airports have screened more than 1 million passengers since Nov. 29, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
Despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advising against travel for Thanksgiving, more than 9 million Americans did so at airports in the week before the holiday and the weekend after, according to CNBC.
The CDC warns that holiday gatherings with people who don’t live in your household can greatly increase the risk of spreading COVID-19.
“As cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to increase across the United States, the safest way to celebrate the winter holidays is to celebrate at home with people who live with you,” the CDC wrote.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, said that holiday travel should be avoided and cautioned about the uptick in cases.
“To the extent possible, don’t travel, don’t congregate together. I know how difficult that is. We all have a strong degree of empathy, myself included, about wanting to be with your family, wanting to have a large Christmas dinner with family and friends over. Right now, that just should not be done,” Fauci said on MSNBC earlier this month.
Fauci also mentioned the surge from Thanksgiving travel will coincide with people traveling for Christmas.
There were 189,099 coronavirus cases reported on Sunday in the U.S. and 1,509 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. There has been an average of 216,070 cases per day over the past week — a 10% increase from the average two weeks ago, The New York Times reported.
Hospitalizations have also increased by 13% over a 14-day period and 113,663 people are hospitalized as of Sunday, according to The New York Times.
Traveling during the pandemic
If you must travel during the holidays, health experts advise researching the coronavirus cases and rate of transmission where you live and the place you’re visiting, McClatchy News reported, citing the CDC. People who live in areas where cases are spiking should reconsider travel.
Experts recommend packing hand sanitizer, face masks, disinfects, thermometers, health insurance cards and medicine for your trip, McClatchy News reported in July.
Holiday travel is expected to decline by at least 29% — but as many as 84.5 million Americans are still expected to travel between Dec. 23 and Jan. 3, most of them by car, according to AAA.
Coronavirus can still spread while “making stops along the way for gas, food, or bathroom breaks can put you and your traveling companions in close contact with other people and frequently touched surfaces,” the CDC said.
You can also be exposed to COVID-19 at rest stops and airports, so health officials have urged travelers to wear face coverings in public.
This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 3:25 PM with the headline "Millions of holiday travelers pass through airports despite COVID warnings, TSA says."