BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WAND) – Millions of Americans are ignoring the advice of health officials and boarding planes for Thanksgiving travel this week.
Between Friday and Sunday TSA agents screened more than 3 million people boarding a plane. Health officials worry large crowds at airports could lead to a spread of COVID-19.
"I'm headed down to see my family in Florida,” Chris Marquardt said as he arrived at the Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington on Tuesday. "We bought the ticket months and months ago. I try and do a good job myself of staying away from people the last couple of weeks, making sure I got tested."
Marquardt is not alone. AAA expects air travel will be down double digits from 2019, but millions of people are expected to still fly.
"Gotta see my family, got to see my Mom,” Tops Kantamneni, who is also flying to Florida, said. “Just mask up and do it."
Fran Strebing, with the Bloomington airport, said while flights are not at 100% capacity, they are full and precautions are being taken to protect passengers. Plexiglass has been installed between all employees and customers, social distancing markets have been installed, hand washing is encouraged, and masks are mandatory.
"So many things have been put in place since March that weren't available,” Strebing said. “We didn't know that we needed to do these things at that point, so we had to scramble to get there and the airlines themselves have stepped up their game."
Airlines said they have noticed bookings drop ahead of Thanksgiving as COVID-19 cases spike. Right now, passenger demand continues to hover at around one-third of last year’s numbers.
If you do decide ignore guidance there are things you can do to reduce risk including moving your gathering outdoors, keep your distance, bring hand sanitizer, and do not take your mask off in airports or in planes.
