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Americans Defy Covid-19 Recommendation Not To Travel For Thanksgiving

Americans Defy Covid-19 Recommendation Not To Travel For Thanksgiving

There are more flights heading across the US on the day before the holiday than there were in 2018.

Jessica Lynch

Jessica Lynch

American public health officials are not impressed with Americans who continue to defy recommendations not to travel amid Covid-19 ahead of Thanksgiving.

According to Flightradar24, Americans aren't letting a pesky little pandemic get in the way of celebrating the annual holiday with their families.

The live tracking flight data website shows are more flights heading across the country on the day before Thanksgiving than there were in 2018.

Flightradar24 reported 6,972 flights in the skies above North America as of noon Tuesday November 24 - fewer than the 7,630 flights on the same day in 2019 but more than the 6,815 flights on the same day in 2018.

While these statistics only account for the number of aircrafts, not the number of passengers, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint data is able to give a better sense of how many people actually fly on a given day.

According to the agency, more than 900,000 people passed through its checkpoints on Monday, with just over 1 million coming through on Sunday, marking the busiest weekend for US air travel since March.

However, air travel is still significantly down from 2019 following the coronavirus pandemic, with the TSA screening approximately 2.25 million people on the Monday before Thanksgiving in 2019, which is more than double the (roughly) 917,000 it screened Monday.

The US Centres for Disease Control is advising against any Thanksgiving travel this year as the US continues to record around 200,000 new COVID-19 cases each day, with the agency suggesting that people host virtual gatherings or delay their plans.

The CDC said: "As cases continue to increase rapidly across the United States, the safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving is to celebrate at home with the people you live with."

The United States has reported more than 12.5 million cases of COVID-19, resulting in at least 258,827 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data as of Tuesday afternoon.

The country is far from reducing the threat of the coronavirus due to a lack of face mask mandates, restrictions on travel and misinformation being spread about the pandemic.

Featured Image Credit: Flight Radar/Twitter

Topics: US