Air travel to the United States reaches high pandemic level over New Years

Air travel to the United States hit its highest level on Saturday since mid-March, raising fears that the rise in holiday travel will translate into a further rise in the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths in the weeks to come up.

Even as the coronavirus rages across the country, 1,192,881 people passed through security checkpoints at airports on Saturday, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

Air travel is still down significantly from previous years, but increased during the 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 could likely worsen over the next two weeks as the United States suffers a delayed impact from holiday travel after Christmas.

“This is what is happening. It’s terrible, it’s unfortunate, but it was predictable,” Fauci, one of the country’s top infectious disease experts, said in an interview on “Meet the Press ”from NBC.

December was the deadliest and most infectious month of the pandemic in the United States. The country averages more than 2,600 deaths every day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Three states have also found cases of the new, more transmissible strain of coronavirus in people with no travel history.

Surgeon General Dr Jerome Adams on Sunday urged Americans to wear masks and socially distance themselves to help temper the expected surge in infections.

“What we do now matters,” Adams said in an interview on CNN. “If you get together on vacation away from your home without a mask, there are still steps you can take right now.”

“You can still self-quarantine yourself. You can still get tested, knowing that over 50% of the spread is now among asymptomatic people,” he added.