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Transportation Security Administration administrator David Pekoske on travel recovery and how the coronavirus has changed how it works.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screened more than three million passengers over the weekend, just days after federal health officials suggested Americans avoid travel during the holidays.
A total of 1,047,934 people were screened at security checkpoints at airports across the country on Sunday, marking the highest passenger volume since the virus caused a “sharp drop” in travel in early March, the company tweeted. TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein.
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Sunday also marked the second time in three days that the volume of checkpoints has exceeded one million passengers, Farbstein said.
TSA screened 1,019,836 passengers on Friday, followed by 984,369 additional passengers on Saturday. The figures show an increase in travel compared to the previous week, when 881,579 passengers were screened on November 13 and 697,360 passengers on November 14.
The volume of one million passengers per day is a “remarkable development following major changes to TSA checkpoints in response to the COVID-19 outbreak,” according to the agency. However, the increase comes as part of renewed efforts by governments and public health officials to keep Americans at home for the holidays ahead to stem the rise in infections across the country.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged not to travel to visit friends and relatives during the holiday season, including Thanksgiving.
The CDC’s warning was one of the agency’s strongest guidelines regarding curtailing holiday gatherings. However, officials fear the holiday gatherings could worsen the pandemic as diagnosed infections, hospitalizations and deaths already skyrocket across the country.
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In a telebriefing last Thursday, Dr Henry Walke, the agency’s COVID-19 incident manager, said that during this “critical phase, the CDC recommends not to travel during Thanksgiving.”
The agency reiterated that guidance on its website citing a million new cases of coronavirus reported nationwide last week alone.
“The safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving is to celebrate at home with the people you live with,” the agency said.
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Gatherings that bring together family and friends from different households, including college students, “present varying levels of risk” for catching or spreading both COVID-19 and the flu, the CDC added.
It is especially important, according to the CDC, for anyone who has been diagnosed with the virus, is showing symptoms, is waiting for test results, who may have been exposed in the past two weeks, or who is at increased risk of disease. severe COVID-19 to avoid gatherings.
Local governments across the country are also doing their part by imposing curfews and implementing more stringent protocols on indoor and outdoor gatherings.
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