A member of the New York Army National Guard distributes health forms to travelers at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York, USA, on Thursday, December 24, 2020.
Angus Mordant | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Air travel in the U.S. reached its highest level on Saturday since mid-March, heightening fears that the increase in holiday travel will result in another increase in Covid-19 cases and deaths in the coming weeks.
Despite the proliferation of coronaviruses across the country, 1,192,881 people went through airport security checkpoints on Saturday, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
Air travel still fell significantly compared to previous years, but increased during Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, despite warnings from health experts and elected officials to limit travel and family reunions.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that the pandemic is likely to get worse in the coming weeks, as the United States experiences a delayed impact of postnatal travel.
“This is what happens. It’s terrible, it’s unfortunate, but it was predictable,” said Fauci, one of the country’s leading infectious disease experts, during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program.
December was the most deadly and infectious month of the pandemic in the United States. The country averages more than 2,600 deaths a day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Three states have also found cases of the new coronavirus strain more transmissible in people without a travel history.
The surgeon general, Dr. Jerome Adams, on Sunday asked Americans to wear masks and social distance to help moderate the projected increase in infections.
“What we do now matters,” said Adams during an interview with CNN. “If you met while on vacation outside your home without a mask, there are still steps you can take now.”
“You can still quarantine. You can still take the test, knowing that more than 50% of the spread is now among asymptomatic people, ”he added.