U.S. sets pandemic travel record despite plea from health officials

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) — Despite the dire warnings from health officials, the U.S. set a nationwide record for travel since the beginning of the pandemic.

This following the New Year’s Eve holiday.

“Just remember that the power is in our hands to continue to turn this surge around,” Dr. Grant Colfax said.

Bay Area health officials and the CDC have been pleading with people not to travel, worried family gatherings over the holidays would intensify the spread of COVID-19.

“We’ve been quarantined for a while now, the entire year 2020 we were quarantined like everyone else mostly so we were just excited to get out,” Frederick Paul said.

Newlyweds Frederick Paul and Iesha Mitchell decided to go on their delayed honeymoon, but are taking extra precautions.

“We don’t have any plans to see anyone or to be around anyone, we also plan to get rested again when we get back to Detroit,” Mitchell said.

Nationwide, a national record was set Saturday since Dec. 23 — the TSA screened nearly 1.2 million passengers.

SFO travel has been down significantly compared to last year.

“We’re seeing kind of a maximum of about 16,000 passengers a day where we would be seeing closer to 80,000 on a traditional holiday weekend travel period,” SFO airport duty manager Russell Mackey said.

Mackey added that Sunday was quiet compared to previous post holiday weekends.

Gus Totah and his family are returning home to San Mateo County from Mexico where they stayed within their bubble and plan to quarantine.

“You know I was in a small secluded villa and not much people around us,” Totah said. “We have to either way, I don’t have anything to do for the next month or so, so we’re going to be at home.”

Public health officials worried about those ignoring orders, potentially causing a surge on top of a surge.

Especially in Santa Clara County, where hospitals are at a brink.

“Where they are having to turn away people who desperately need their services. It’s no longer just about COVID. It’s about everybody,” Dr. Ahman Kamal said. “It’s about people in car accidents, it’s about people with a heart attack, this will affect all of us.”

We expect to learn about the overall impact of COVID from the Christmas and New Years holiday gatherings this week.