NEW YORK - It certainly was nothing like past Fridays before Thanksgiving at LaGuardia Airport. Many folks are heeding calls to not travel as coronavirus cases rise across the nation. Some though did make it to the new Terminal B for flights to see family and friends elsewhere.
One traveler said they had no concerns about flying despite the warnings. “I’m going to keep my fingers crossed.”
What You Need To Know
- COVID-19 cases are increasing rapidly across the United States
- The Centers for Disease Control says the safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving is to celebrate at home with the people you live with
- Travel may increase your chances of getting and spreading COVID-19
- It's important to talk with the people you live with and your family and friends about the risks of traveling for Thanksgiving
The Centers for Disease Control would prefer more than just that. The federal agency is urging Americans to stay home for the holidays and to keep celebrations to just immediate family. Still, there were travelers heading somewhere not just to celebrate Thanksgiving, but also on vacations and to attend weddings.
"You've got to go on with life,” said another traveler headed to a wedding in Miami, Florida. “You can't lock yourself indoors, you've got to live, you've got to eat, you've got to work, you’ve got to go on,” he said as he rushed to the gate.
Another flyer traveling with his family to Texas for Thanksgiving said “It's fine, as long as you social distance and keep your safety, that's pretty much it,” adding that he wasn’t overly concerned about bringing coronavirus back from a state with much higher COVID-19 positivity rates.
One college student headed to Arkansas for school break said he feels safer in New York then in his home state since “people pay more attention to keeping safe here.”
"I took a test here from NYU, tested negative, so, I got tested every week, tested negative, and then I will probably test again when I get back to Arkansas, just to make sure, just trying to play it safe,” he said.
Other air travelers we spoke with seemed confident that flying to their destinations would be safe and they weren't putting anyone else at risk.
“I'm going to try to quarantine for four days because I live with my family so I am pretty nervous about spreading it to my Dad because he has pre-existing conditions,” said one woman traveling to a wedding in Tampa.
It still remains to be seen what impact holiday travel will have on the coronavirus numbers. But health officials truly believe that if Americans stay home, there's a better chance of things getting better, instead of getting worse.