1.2 million fly on Christmas Eve despite warnings to stay home for holidays
Despite warnings from public health experts to stay home, about 1.2 million travelers passed through U.S. airport security checkpoints Wednesday — down by about 40% from a year ago, but the highest one-day total since the crisis took hold in mid-March.
Airports also recorded around 1 million travelers on each of the five days between last Friday and Tuesday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert, said he is particularly worried about travel between Christmas and New Year’s. Fauci, who turned 80 on Thursday, said he and his wife would be celebrating his birthday and the holiday with their children on Zoom.
The virus has taken more than 327,000 lives in the U.S., with the nation repeatedly recording over 3,000 deaths per day over the past two weeks.
Americans have high hopes for vaccines — officials had promised that some 20 million people would be vaccinated by year’s end. But as of Wednesday, about 1.1 million Americans had received the first dose of the two-dose inoculations, yet another disappointment in a year of many.
California became the first state to record 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases, reaching the milestone on Christmas Eve as close to the entire state was under a strict stay-at-home order and hospitals struggled to cope with the biggest crush of cases since the pandemic began.
