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 Although fewer in number than last year, U.S. travelers were
flocking to airports and highways against the advice of the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. surgeon general
and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert.
As U.S. infections of the highly contagious respiratory virus
continued to spread swiftly, hitting a new record of 168,000 new
cases per day on average, many travelers expressed equal parts of
determination and dread.
"I'm really scared, but seeing family is very important to me,"
Hannah Osnan, 18, a California State University Long Beach student
waiting in line for a COVID-19 diagnostic test at Los Angeles
International Airport, where she hoped to board a 22-hour flight to
see family in Egypt for the first time in a year.
The long Thanksgiving holiday weekend, which begins on Thursday, is
traditionally the busiest U.S. travel period of the year, and 2020
may prove to be no exception.
Some 1 million passengers passed through airport security gates on
Sunday, the highest number since March. It was the second time in
three days U.S. air travel screenings surpassed 1 million, though
the numbers are down nearly 60% from the same time last year, the
U.S. Transportation Security Administration said.
Likewise, the American Automobile Association has forecast that 45
million to 50 million people will take to the highways over the
holiday, compared with 55 million in 2019.
At the same time, rates of coronavirus infections, deaths and
hospitalizations are soaring.
The seven-day rolling average number of U.S. COVID-19 deaths climbed
for a 12th straight day, reaching 1,500 as of Monday, according to a
Reuters tally of official data, and coronavirus hospitalizations
nationally have surged nearly 50% over the past two weeks. (Graphic:
https://tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi)
To date, COVID-19 has killed more than 257,000 Americans, with over
12 million testing positive since the pandemic began.
State and local government officials have reimposed a host of
restrictions on social and economic life in recent weeks to tamp
down the spread, as medical experts warn the surge is threatening to
overwhelm hospitals already strained by rising caseloads.
VACCINE HOPE ON HORIZON
The dire scope of the crisis has been tempered by promising news on
the vaccine front.
The head of the U.S. campaign to rapidly deploy a vaccine said on
Sunday the first shots could begin to be administered to healthcare
workers and other high-priority recipients as early as mid-December,
within a day or two of receiving regulatory consent.
Nevertheless, health authorities have urged Americans to resist
letting their guard down, warning it will likely take several months
for sufficient quantities of vaccine to be widely available.
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A vaccine from Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech is
expected to win authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration next month, with a second vaccine from Moderna Inc
headed for FDA review before year's end.
Late-stage trials of both vaccines have been about 95% effective in
preventing infection. The British maker of a third vaccine,
AstraZeneca, announced Monday its candidate has proven 90% effective
without serious side effects, and that 700 million doses could be
ready globally by late in the first quarter of 2021.
Still, the imperatives of family and fatigue with COVID-19
restrictions have left many Americans defying health advice that
could save their lives.
"We are not going to let COVID scare us," said Brian McDonough, 47,
a construction worker and diligent mask wearer who plans to spend
Thanksgiving with his sister not far from his home in Worth,
Illinois. He will bring pies for dessert.
"We get tested, we are negative, so life goes on," he said.
"Thanksgiving is Thanksgiving. Christmas is Christmas. New Year's is
New Year's. If people die it's going to happen, and there's nothing
we can do about it until we get a vaccine."
Edie Taylor, 29, a building design specialist in Oakland,
California, was less sanguine as she prepared to board a flight to
her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, to attend a family gathering
and then stay on through New Year's.
"It's terrifying," said Taylor, who said she would have changed her
plans in light of the worsening pandemic, but after giving up her
apartment in Oakland "I didn't have anywhere to live. I just have to
get on that plane."
To be sure, many Americans are exercising greater caution.
Donnalie Hope, 78, of Petersburg, West Virginia, is planning to make
fresh cranberries, mash potatoes and her famous corn pudding for
Thanksgiving, which she will spend with her visiting daughter and a
neighbor.
Hope said they would try to social distance in her home, and she
planned to have rubber gloves and hand sanitizer on hand. She
acknowledged her guests might take off their masks in the home.
"I'm trying very hard to comply with the regs because I want this
country to get back to where it belongs," Hope said.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta and Nathan Layne; Additional reporting
by Lisa Lambert, David Shepardson and Susan Heavey in Washington,
Barbara Goldberg in Maplewood, New Jersey, and Lucy Nicholson in Los
Angeles; Writing by Daniel Trotta, Maria Caspani and Steve Gorman;
Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Bill Tarrant)
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