For the first time in more than a year since the coronavirus outbreak was declared a pandemic, more than 1 million passengers passed through U.S. airports for 10 consecutive days.
The benchmark was reached on Saturday, March 20, according to CNN and figures from the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA).
Spring break for high school and college students, as well as a bit of cabin fever over not having traveled as much in the last year, is fueling the increase.
The TSA reported 1,369,180 travelers passed through security checkpoints Saturday, a day after air passengers set a new pandemic record when 1,468,516 traveled through TSA security.
At the end of the December holiday period, the TSA logged five 1-million-plus days in a row. This new spring surge had been anticipated by the TSA.
As with anything, it has created a “good news, bad news” scenario. It’s good for the troubled airline industry, devastated by the effects of COVID-19. It’s bad news, though, when comparing it to 2019 air travel numbers – even 10 million-plus passengers over 10 days is still more than half of the number of people who flew during that same time span two years ago.
And it’s bad news for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which continues to recommend that people avoid travel.
“What we have seen is that we have surges after people start traveling, we saw it after July 4, we saw it after Labor Day, we saw it after the Christmas holidays,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said last week in response to a question from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during a Covid-19 briefing.
Walensky said because 90 percent of people remain unvaccinated, the CDC will wait to update guidance.
