SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) – More than 1 million people have passed US airport security checkpoints in each of the past two days, a sign that public health reasons for avoiding vacation travel are being ignored, despite a alarming increases in COVID- 19 cases.
This is the first time that US airports have examined more than 1 million passengers since November 29. This came at the end of a Thanksgiving weekend, which saw far more trips across the country than expected, as the weather became colder and COVID-19 cases. they were already submerged again.
Now, hospitals in many areas are overwhelmed by the largest outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States since March, when most Americans were ordered to stay home and avoid interactions with other households.
The seven-day average of recently reported infections in the United States rose from about 176,000 a day just before Thanksgiving to over 215,000 a day. It is too early to calculate how much of this increase is due to Thanksgiving trips and gatherings, but experts believe they are a factor.
Although the blockade is no longer in place in many parts of the country, home orders have returned in some areas in an effort to contain the virus. Nearly 99% of California’s population of about 40 million, for example, has been told to stay home, except for essential work, shopping and exercise.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an opinion stating that “postponing travel and staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.”
However, about 1.07 million people passed through security checkpoints at US airports on Friday and again on Saturday, according to the Transportation Security Administration. Saturday’s volume fell 57 percent from the same period last year, the smallest year-over-year decline in daily traffic at U.S. airports since Nov. 22 as people began Thanksgiving getaways.
If this early trend continues, US public health officials fear it will lead to more outreach events as people inadvertently transmit the virus to family and friends as they gather indoors for the holiday season. Health officials noted that the next holiday period from Christmas to New Year’s Day covers a longer period of time than the Thanksgiving break.
More trips are expected as Christmas approaches. AAA projects will travel approximately 85 million people between December 23 and January 3, most by car. That would be a drop of almost a third from a year ago, but still a massive movement of people in the midst of a pandemic.