US airports screen record number of travellers over holiday despite COVID-19 warnings
Dec 28, 2020
Washington [US], December 28 (ANI/Sputnik): US airports screened a record number of passengers over the Christmas holiday weekend despite warnings from top health officials about the risk of travelling amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said on Monday.
"TSA screened 1,284,599 people at airport checkpoints nationwide yesterday, Sunday, Dec. 27," Farbstein said via Twitter. "It is the highest checkpoint throughput since the pandemic hit. It is also the 6th day in the last 10 that volume has surpassed 1M. If you choose to travel, please wear a mask."
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had previously urged Americans not to travel during the Christmas holiday, warning of an "exponential" increase in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the country.
Health officials in the United States have documented more than 19.1 million cases of COVID-19 since January, data compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU) showed on Monday.
More than 333,140 people have died of the disease in the country since the start of the pandemic. (ANI/Sputnik)
