More people traveled through US airports on Wednesday than on any day since the COVID-19 pandemic took over the nation in March, the TSA said.
Just days before Christmas, security officials examined 1,191,123 people at U.S. airports on Dec. 23, TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said – most in a single day since March 16, when 1,257,823 flyers passed through TSA checkpoints.
The increase in air travel comes despite requests from health officials to stay home and avoid travel during the holiday season, amid a steady increase in COVID-19 cases.
However, the amount of Wednesday represented only 61% of the number of people who went through the TSA screens on the same day in 2019.
Air travel was well below normal levels throughout the pandemic. As the outbreaks spread around the world, TSA agents analyzed only 90,000 people in several days in April.
Air travel began to intensify in late April and has continued to grow steadily since then. Last weekend marked the first time in March, where on Friday, Saturday and Sunday they saw more than a million people entering American airports, according to TSA figures.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges Americans not to organize inter-household holidays as the coronavirus continues to spread.
“People who do not currently live in your housing unit, such as students returning home from school for the holidays, should be considered part of different households,” according to the agency’s guide.