Roughly a year after the coronavirus began squashing commercial aviation, air travel numbers are continuing to creep upward, worrying top health officials.
The Transportation Security Administration screened more than 1 million passengers for five straight days, a first since the post-Christmas travel surge last year. Screeners saw a throughput of more than 1.2 million passengers on Monday.
In a Monday press briefing with the White House COVID-19 response team, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky warned of the risks of easing up on pandemic restrictions too soon, pointing out that the travel increase comes as the country adds more than 50,000 new coronavirus cases per day.
ALL MISSISSIPPI ADULTS WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR COVID-19 VACCINE ON TUESDAY, GOVERNOR SAYS
Walensky cautioned of case surges in Europe being indicative of what could happen in the United States.
“Each of these countries has had nadirs like we are having now, and each took an upward trend after they disregarded known mitigation strategies,” she said. “They simply took their eye off the ball.”
New cases in Germany and France are rising amid the threat of newer variants of the disease, according to aggregations by Our World in Data. Cases were falling in Spain and the United Kingdom for weeks but have started to plateau.
“I’m pleading with you for the sake of our nation’s health,” Walensky said. “These should be warning signs for all of us. Cases climbed last spring. They climbed again in the summer. They will climb now if we stop taking precautions when we continue to get more and more people vaccinated.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Biden, has said Europe is typically weeks ahead of the U.S. in terms of the virus’s activity, pointing to the current case surges.
“When we see that leveling off at a high level, there’s always a surge of a risk back up, and, in fact, unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s happening in Europe right now,” Fauci said on Fox News Sunday.
The travel boom comes as a confluence of factors is encouraging more people to fly. Coronavirus cases, while still elevated, have been falling since mid-January. The seven-day average of new cases was over 250,000 on Jan. 11. On Monday, the seven-day average was just over 55,000 cases. Warming weather, spring break vacations, and growing vaccinations may also be contributing to higher travel numbers.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
In a recent guidance, the CDC gave its blessing to gatherings of people who have been fully vaccinated, though discouraged unnecessary travel remains in place.
