3 million travelers in 3 days: Holiday travel rush underway despite CDC advice
advice to stay home this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Transportation Security Administration screened more than 3 million travelers over the weekend as vacations from school and work began.
The TSA screened 1,064,619 people on Sunday, 1,073,563 on Saturdayand 1,066,747on Friday, according to a daily tally it posts to track passenger trends. It is the first time since March with consecutive days of checkpoint numbers over 1 million.
The numbers are still down significantly from a year ago, nearly 60%, or about 1.5 million fewer passengers, each day.
But even with the weekend rush, passenger counts have topped 1 million just eight times since travel demand plummeted in mid-March. The low point came on April 14, with just 87,534 passengers screened.
Thanksgiving travel period, even though the CDC also recommended against Thanksgiving travel, if just a few days before travelers were heading out. On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, a pandemic record 1,176,091 travelers were screened, according to the TSA.
Don’t forget your mask: 9 things to know if you haven’t been on a plane since March
CDC: Get tested twice if you travel for holidays
Know before you go: COVID travel restrictions by state
