Friday Had the Highest Number Of Air Travelers We’ve Seen In Over a Year
Consumer confidence in the travel industry has returned this Spring Break with the news, shared in the New York Times that 1.357 million people passed through airports on Friday! This is MAJOR news as it is the first time since March of 2020 that travel has been this high. As you’ll remember, this is right before the pandemic.
These new figures were released by the Transportation Security Administration and spells good news for the aviation industry which was badly hit by the coronavirus and subsequent lock-down. The industry will also get some additional relief in the form of additional funds as outlined in President Biden’s stimulus bill on Thursday.
It should however, be noted that flying at this time is STILL going against guidelines outlined by the CDC which said that EVEN fully vaccinated individuals should avoid unnecessary travel at this time.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disney Control and Prevention said in an interview with MSNBC on Monday, “We know that after mass travel, after vacations, after holidays, we tend to see a surge in cases.” She continued “And so, we really want to make sure — again with just 10 percent of people vaccinated — that we are limiting travel.”
Though Friday’s numbers, compared to have they’ve been over the past year are high, it should be noted that air travel is still coming in at 38% less than what it was in 2019 according to TSA data. However, it does give the travel and tourism industry hope that as more people get vaccinated, the appetite for travel will return.
However, it’s also worth pointing out that now is not the time to be disregarding measures put into place to keep guests safe. For instance, photos have emerged over the past week of guests taking to Florida’s beaches and seemingly abandoning mask rules and social distancing measures.
As we previous reported here at MickeyBlog, May Dan Gelber of Miami Beach said of this uncomfortable trend,” Unfortunately, we’re getting too many people looking to get loose.” The Mayor continued, “Letting loose is precisely what we don’t want.”
It should be remembered that though COVID-19 cases are on the decline, they may go back up due to travelers opting to be lax when it comes to guidelines. We saw something similar with the spike in cases after the holidays. The TSA has gone on record as saying that 6,000 COVID cases reported by their workers can be traced back travelers becoming more lax when it comes to health and safety.
This is a story that we here at MickeyBlog will continue to follow closely. Readers are encouraged to keep checking in with us for further news and updates.
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Source: New York Times