Nearly 1.2 million travelers were recorded yesterday at airports, the highest since the pandemic broke out, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
“@TSA screened 1,191,123 individuals at airport checkpoints nationwide yesterday, Wednesday, Dec. 23. It’s the highest checkpoint volume since March 16, when 1,257,823 people were screened.” TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said in a Twitter post.
Last year the same day there were 1.9 million travelers recorded.
The previous record during the pandemic was recorded on Nov. 29, a Sunday after Thanksgiving, which was 1.17 million travelers.
The announcement came as the number of people who have received the COVID-19 vaccine reached one million and after Congress passed the pandemic stimulus bill late Monday, which President Donald Trump signaled on Wednesday he would veto unless they changed significant portions of it.
However, COVID-19 cases in the United States have hit a new high, 18.17 million cases as of Dec. 23, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The United Kingdom also reported that a new variant of the CCP (China Communist Party) virus was detected in November. A study shows that the new strain could spread over 50 percent faster from person to person.
The CDC said most experts believe the new variant won’t impact the effectiveness of vaccines because of the nature of the virus, and scientists in the UK see no evidence that infections by this variant cause more severe symptoms.
The CDC still states that travel can increase the chance of spreading and getting COVID-19. “Postponing travel and staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.”
