Infrastructure

TSA Expects Millions More To Travel Thanksgiving Week

Holiday travel surge continues despite CDC urging people to stay home to help stop the coronavirus and provide relief for health care workers.

TSA Expects Millions More To Travel Thanksgiving Week
AP Images

Thanksgiving may look a little different this year, but you wouldn’t think that looking at America’s biggest airports. The TSA tells Newsy it’s expecting one million passengers to be screened on Wednesday, and another million the following Sunday. This, after over three million travelers went through checkpoints this past weekend — despite guidance from the CDC to stay home. 

"You don't know who you're sharing air with on the airplane. And even though you're trying to disinfect seats or handles, it's really what's happening in the flight in the air," said Dr. Kelly Cawcutt, an infectious disease specialist at Nebraska Medicine. 

A forecast from AAA predicts at least a 10 percent drop in holiday travel this year. But experts acknowledge that estimates are less reliable than before. 

"The typical factors that we look at in determining if we’re going to travel are just out the window this year," said AAA spokesperson Jeanette McGee.

Meanwhile, new COVID-19 cases have topped 12 million, with the daily rate growing to almost 200,000 last week.