Millions of American people have flown to the skies and highways before Thanksgiving, risking pouring gasoline on the corona virus fire, ignoring increasingly stringent warnings that they will stay home and limit their festive gatherings to members of their own households only.
Those who fly witnessed the 2020 orientation at the nation’s airports: plexiglass barriers in front of identification stations, rapid virus testing sites within terminals, masks in check-in areas and aircraft, and paperwork that quarantines passengers on arrival at their destination.
While the number of Americans traveling by air has dropped dramatically over the past few days from the same period last year, many have advanced their vacation plans in the United States amid skyrocketing deaths, hospital care, and confirmed infections.
Some got tired of more than eight months of social distance and decided to spend time with their loved ones.
“I think it’s so important now with the holidays and everything, especially because people are so shocked by the whole pandemic,” said Cassidy Zerkle, a 25-year-old phoenix who flew to Kansas City, Missouri. during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
He brought snacks and his own hand sanitizer and said the flight was half full. You had a series of meetings.
“As long as you keep your distance, don’t touch things, and disinfect your hands, people need to see their families right away,” he said.
The coronavirus is blamed for more than 12.6 million confirmed infections and more than 269,000 deaths in the United States
More than 88,000 people in the U.S. – the highest grade of all time – were hospitalized on Tuesday with COVID-19, pushing the health care system to break points in many places, and new cases of the virus set records, rising to an average of over 174,000 a day.
The death toll has risen to more than 1,600 a day, the last sign seen in May when the crisis eased in the New York area.
The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control and state and local authorities have asked people not to travel and urged them to keep Thanksgiving holidays small.
“This will ensure that his large family nearby celebrates Christmas and celebrates the holidays next year,” Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said.
About 900,000 to 1 million people passed through U.S. airport checkpoints daily from Friday to Tuesday, a drop of about 60% from a year ago. Nevertheless, these were the largest masses since the COVID-19 crisis occurred in the United States in March.
Last year, in the 11-day period around Thanksgiving, a record 26 million passengers and crew passed the screening of the U.S. airport.
More Americans are driving than flying during the holiday, and the AAA predicts that number is likely to be lower this year as well. How much lower the car club said.
Many states and cities have adopted precautions. Travelers to Los Angeles by plane or train had to fill out an online form acknowledging California’s request that people be quarantined for two weeks after they arrived in the state.
Thea Zunick, 40, boarded a plane to Florida, New Jersey, with her 90-year-old grandmother and parents.
“We all decided it was worth the risk,” Zunick said. “But I wanted to make sure my efforts for my health weren’t distracted by the negligence of others. And absolutely, I know you risked flying. I know, but sometimes you need it.
For days before the trip, he isolated himself at home, took a COVID-19 test that turned negative, and definitely chose an early and direct flight. He also disguised it and put a face shield on top.
“Honestly, I felt like an astronaut,” Zunick said.
After being at the airport, Zunick said he saw poor adherence to wearing masks, loose adherence to rules, long lines to pick up luggage, and disregard for social distance in safety lines.
After boarding his full flight, he occupied the middle seats, watching the passengers eating and drinking with their masks pulled down, and sitting next to the passenger wearing a loose bandana, encouraging him to call a flight attendant, he said.
– I told the stewardess, “Hey, is the person next to me allowed?” Because it makes you uncomfortable. They’re like, “Oh, yeah, that’s okay.” But it’s not, Zunick said. – The bottom was open. And he was so loosely bound that he kept falling over the whole flight and constantly swirling with it, trying to tighten and pull it up.
Anne Moore, a 60-year-old Chicago woman, flew to Albany, New York, to have a holiday with her daughter. Her daughter, the head of the University of Dartmouth, Moore, and her husband were worried about her own return to Illinois.
In front of the spike, the family planned to hold a Thanksgiving gathering of less than ten people. But instead, it will only be Moore, her husband and daughter.
“I have friends who are alone. And I don’t invite them. And that makes me feel bad, ”he said. – We’re walking instead or something. But yes, the three of us are isolated.
