Passengers arrive for American Airlines flights at O’Hare International Airport on February 5, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois.
Scott Olson | Getty Images
The United States may still see another increase in coronavirus – even with the rapid increase in vaccinations against Covid-19 across the country – as states relax restrictions and more Americans travel on spring break, the head of Control Centers warned and Disease Prevention on Monday.
“With the warmer weather approaching, I know it is tempting to want to relax and let your guard down,” said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walenksy at a news conference on Monday. “Particularly after a severe winter that unfortunately saw the highest level of cases and deaths during the pandemic so far.”
The Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, examined more than 1.34 million people on Sunday, 86,000 more than on the same day a year ago, shortly after the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic.
TSA’s exhibitions have reached 1 million every day since Thursday, reaching the best stretch in a year. Although air travel falls far short of 2019 levels, more Americans are returning to the skies, despite CDC guidance warning against non-essential travel, even for those who are fully vaccinated.
Although many colleges in the United States have reduced their spring break in an effort to contain parties and infections, senior Biden officials are still concerned about travelers who are “enjoying the spring break festivities, without a mask,” said Walensky.
“I am begging you, for the sake of our nation’s health,” Walenksy said at a news conference on Monday. “The cases went up last spring, they went up again in the summer, they will go up now if we stop taking precautions when we continue to vaccinate more and more people.”
Despite declining infections and rapidly expanding vaccine launches, the United States continues to report a dangerously high baseline of daily cases that could be reversed if Americans let their guard down, warned Biden’s top health officials. About 37.5 million people, about 11% of the American population, have been fully vaccinated in the United States so far, according to the CDC.
The US has come a long way since the beginning of January, when it peaked at just over 250,000 new cases daily, based on a weekly average. The country is now reporting a daily average of 53,670 new infections last week, a 10% decline compared to the previous week, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
– Leslie Josephs of CNBC and the Associated Press contributed to this report.