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Americans
risk
traveling
over
Thanksgiving
despite
warnings
By
LISA
MARIE
PANE
and
SOPHIA
TULP
apnews.com
Millions
of
Americans
took to
the
skies
and the
highways
ahead of
Thanksgiving
at the
risk of
pouring
gasoline
on the
coronavirus
fire,
disregarding
increasingly
dire
warnings
that
they
stay
home and
limit
their
holiday
gatherings
to
members
of their
own
household.
Those
who are
flying
witnessed
a
distinctly
2020
landscape
at the
nation’s
airports:
plexiglass
barriers
in front
of the
ID
stations,
rapid
virus
testing
sites
inside
terminals,
masks in
check-in
areas
and on
board
planes,
and
paperwork
asking
passengers
to
quarantine
on
arrival
at their
destination.
While
the
number
of
Americans
traveling
by air
over the
past
several
days was
down
dramatically
from the
same
time
last
year,
many
pressed
ahead
with
their
holiday
plans
amid
skyrocketing
deaths,
hospitalizations
and
confirmed
infections
across
the U.S.
Some
were
tired of
more
than
eight
months
of
social
distancing
and
determined
to spend
time
with
loved
ones.
“I
think
with the
holidays
and
everything,
it’s so
important
right
now,
especially
because
people
are so
bummed
out
because
of the
whole
pandemic,”
said
25-year-old
Cassidy
Zerkle
of
Phoenix,
who flew
to
Kansas
City,
Missouri,
to visit
family
during
what is
traditionally
one of
the
busiest
travel
periods
of the
year.
She
brought
snacks
and her
own hand
sanitizer
and said
the
flight
was half
full.
She had
a row of
seats to
herself.
“As
long as
you’re
maintaining
your
distance,
you’re
not
touching
stuff
and
you’re
sanitizing
your
hands,
people
should
see
their
families
right
now,”
she
said.
The
U.S. has
recorded
more
than
12.7
million
coronavirus
infections
and over
262,000
deaths.
The
country
is still
missing
about
eight
infections
for
every
one
counted,
according
to a new
government
report
Wednesday.
Many
people
don’t
get
tests,
especially
if they
don’t
have
symptoms.
More
than
88,000
people
in the
U.S. —
an
all-time
high —
were in
the
hospital
with
COVID-19
as of
Tuesday,
pushing
the
health
care
system
in many
places
to the
breaking
point,
and new
cases of
the
virus
have
been
setting
records,
soaring
to an
average
of over
174,000
per day.
Deaths
have
surged
to more
than
1,600
per day,
a mark
last
seen in
May,
when the
crisis
in the
New York
area was
easing.
The
Centers
for
Disease
Control
and
Prevention
and
state
and
local
authorities
have
begged
people
not to
travel
and
urged
them to
keep
their
Thanksgiving
celebrations
small.
“That’ll
make
sure
that
your
extended
family
are
around
to
celebrate
Christmas
and to
celebrate
the
holidays
next
year,”
Kentucky
Gov.
Andy
Beshear
said.
But
even
Denver
Mayor
Michael
Hancock
flew to
Mississippi
to spend
Thanksgiving
with his
wife and
youngest
daughter
despite
sending
messages
on
social
media
and to
city
staff
asking
them to
avoid
traveling
for the
holiday.
He
apologized,
acknowledging
that he
went
against
his own
public
guidance.
“I
made my
decision
as a
husband
and
father,
and for
those
who are
angry
and
disappointed,
I humbly
ask you
to
forgive
decisions
that are
borne of
my heart
and not
my
head,”
Hancock
said.
About
900,000
to 1
million
people
per day
passed
through
U.S.
airport
checkpoints
from
Friday
through
Tuesday,
a
drop-off
of
around
60% from
the same
time a
year
ago.
Still,
those
were
some of
the
biggest
crowds
since
the
COVID-19
crisis
took
hold in
the U.S.
in
March.
Last
year, a
record
26
million
passengers
and crew
passed
through
U.S.
airport
screening
in the
11-day
period
around
Thanksgiving.
More
Americans
drive
than fly
during
the
holiday,
and AAA
has
projected
those
numbers
are also
likely
to be
lower
this
year.
How much
lower
the auto
club has
not
said.
Many
states
and
cities
have
adopted
precautions.
Travelers
to Los
Angeles,
either
by plane
or
train,
were
required
to fill
out an
online
form
acknowledging
California’s
request
that
people
quarantine
for two
weeks
after
arrival
in the
state.
Thea
Zunick,
40,
boarded
a flight
from
Newark,
New
Jersey,
to
Florida
to see
her
90-year-old
grandmother
and her
parents.
“We’ve
all kind
of
decided
like
it’s
worth
the
risk,”
Zunick
said.
“But I
wanted
to make
sure
that all
the
efforts
that
I’ve
made to
stay
healthy
isn’t
undone
by other
people’s
carelessness.
And
absolutely,
I know
that I’m
taking a
risk by
flying.
I know
that,
but
sometimes
it’s
necessary.”
She
isolated
at home
for days
before
the
trip,
got a
COVID-19
test
that
came
back
negative
and made
sure to
choose
an early
and
direct
flight.
She also
masked
up and
layered
a face
shield
on top.
“I
felt
like an
astronaut,
to be
honest,”
Zunick
said.
Once
at the
airport,
Zunick
said,
she saw
poor
adherence
to
mask-wearing,
loose
enforcement
of
rules,
long
lines to
check
baggage
and a
disregard
for
social
distancing
in
security
lines.
Once
she
boarded
her
completely
full
flight,
with
middle
seats
occupied,
she
watched
passengers
eat and
drink
with
their
masks
pulled
down and
sat next
to a
passenger
wearing
a loose
bandanna,
prompting
her to
call
over a
flight
attendant,
she
said.
“I
said to
the
stewardess,
‘Hey,
the
person
next to
me, is
that
permitted?
Because
it’s
making
me
uncomfortable.’
They’re
like,
‘Oh,
yeah,
that’s
fine.’
But it’s
not,”
Zunick
said.
“The
bottom
of it
was
open.
And it
was tied
so
loosely
that it
kept
falling
down
throughout
the
flight
and he
kept
messing
with it
and
trying
to make
it
tighter
and pull
it up.”
Anne
Moore, a
60-year-old
woman
from
Chicago,
flew to
Albany,
New
York, to
be with
her
daughter
for the
holiday.
Her
daughter
is a
senior
at
Dartmouth
College,
and
Moore
and her
husband
were
worried
about
her
driving
back to
Illinois
by
herself.
Before
the
spike,
the
family
had
planned
to hold
a
Thanksgiving
gathering
of fewer
than 10
people.
But
instead
it will
be just
Moore,
her
husband
and her
daughter.
“I
have
friends
who are
alone.
And I’m
not
inviting
them.
And I
feel
badly
about
that,”
she
said.
“We’ll
take a
walk or
something
instead.
But
yeah,
the
three of
us are
isolating.”
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