Airports over the Easter weekend saw the largest total number of travelers since the weekend before the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus crisis a pandemic.
Data from the Transportation Security Administration show that 4,522,217 travelers passed through airport checkpoints Friday through Sunday. The last time total travelers surpassed that number was the weekend of March 6-8, 2020, which saw nearly 5.9 million travelers. The Easter high surpasses the previous pandemic peak of 4,517,582 people who traveled the weekend before.
The new peak comes days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention amended its guidance on Friday to say that those who are fully vaccinated can now travel safely. CDC’s guidance added that vaccinated travelers and those who have recovered from COVID-19 in the past three months do not need to get tested or self-quarantine before or after travel.
CDC: TRAVEL IS SAFE FOR THOSE FULLY VACCINATED
Prior to those changes, the CDC discouraged travel and recommended that those who must travel get tested before doing so. The agency still discourages travel among those who have not been fully vaccinated.
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, a TSA spokesperson acknowledged the new peak in passenger volume, adding that Sunday was the 25th consecutive day the checkpoint volume exceeded 1 million people.
“While passenger volume is on the rise, the federal mask mandate remains in effect in the transportation sectors across the country, even in states that have relaxed their own mask mandates,” the spokesperson said.
As air travel numbers continue to increase, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky has continued to urge people to stay home.
“What we’re seeing now is more travel than we saw throughout the pandemic, including the Christmas and New Year’s holidays,” Walensky said during a March 29 briefing by the White House COVID-19 Response Team.
By comparison, this year’s New Year’s weekend saw 3.3 million travelers, and the Christmas 2020 holiday weekend saw just over 3 million.
“I would just sort of reiterate the recommendations from CDC saying please limit travel to essential travel for the time being,” Walensky said.
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As of Sunday, the seven-day rolling average of new cases in the United States is just over 63,200, and the percentage of the total population vaccinated stands at 18.5%, according to the CDC. About 32% of people have had at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
As part of the Easter weekend total, Friday delivered the largest single-day pandemic total of travelers, with 1,580,785 passengers.
