Americans flying for holiday despite COVID surge

Despite the deadly spread of Coronavirus desease, Ameicans are ready to fly. According to reports millions of Americans bought tickets to fly somewhere before the nation’s top public health agency pleaded with them not to travel for the holiday. The country's air ports could be seen  crowded and passengers boarding is unabated. That’s despite relatively lenient cancellation policies that major airlines have implemented since the coronavirus pandemic emerged earlier this year.“Consumers should feel comfortable changing their plans and cancelling their flights if they need to for health reasons,” said John Breyault of the National Consumers League.

Most airlines won’t pay cash to refund a flight if a passenger  decide to heed national health warnings but they are waiving fees and offering vouchers. Breyault said to “familiarize yourself with the policies” because the voucher specifics vary by airline and can depend on when the ticket was booked. More than 2 million people were screened at U.S. airports on Friday and Saturday, according to the Transportation Security Administration. While that’s far lower than during the same time last year, Friday was only the second time since mid-March that daily airport screenings topped 1 million.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Americans should skip Thanksgiving travel and not spend the holiday with people from outside their household. The nation’s top infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said Sunday he’s worried that instances of crowding at U.S. airports from Thanksgiving travel could lead to a perilous situation as Covid-19 cases surge. "People at airports “are going to get us into even more trouble than we’re in right now", Fauci said and added that new Covid-19 cases from Thanksgiving won’t become evident until weeks later, making it “very difficult” as the virus spirals out of control heading into colder weather and the December holiday season.