Many still flying into RI to visit family despite CDC’s plea to stay home this Thanksgiving
WARWICK, R.I. (WLNE) – Travelers filled airports across the country in the days ahead of Thanksgiving despite pleas from federal leaders to stay home and not travel this holiday as coronavirus cases spike across the nation.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged Americans last week not to travel or spend time with people outside their household this Thanksgiving. But over the weekend, approximately 3 million people packed airports and planes.
According to data from the TSA, the 3 million who went through U.S. airport checkpoints between Friday and Sunday were the biggest crowds since the start of the pandemic in March.
At T.F. Green Airport in Warwick on Monday, a steady stream of travelers landed to spend the holiday week with family.
“I’m only 20, so having Thanksgiving without my parents would be so upsetting,” said Devon Reilly of Nashville, Tennesee.
Reilly said she bought her one-way ticket three months ago and didn’t want to cancel it.
“Luckily, I still have the resources to be able to come here safely and travel and I have the ability to get a covid test tomorrow. I’m feeling good but I understand there’s just a lot going on.”
Nationally, AAA is estimating air travel will be down at least 50% this Thanksgiving. As for automobile travel, AAA is estimating it will be down just 5%.
“Here in the U.S., the airports are starting to get a lot busier than they have been. A lot of people are starting to travel, I guess they don’t really care about what’s going on now. They just want to get out and about now, so, most of the airports are filling up quite a bit,” said Aaron Hildred, a cargo pilot.
Hildred landed at T.F. Green on Monday after two weeks of traveling abroad for work. He said other countries aren’t traveling as much as the U.S. is right now.
“Europe, no one’s really traveling at all. Asia is pretty much back to normal, but the airlines are not recovered yet at all so there’s very few people traveling in Asia. Here in the US, people are actually getting out a lot more,” he said.
He’s not worried to travel so much and said others should feel safe on airplanes.
“People shouldn’t be too scared about traveling as long as they take the precautions. I understand that airplanes are very safe to fly on, and they take all the precautions they can. We’ve had very few people get sick on airplanes, and know they’re made to clean the air, 100%, on every flight.”
But, it’s what happens at the dinner table that worries doctors.
People like Kerry Nicolich of Minnesota believe time with family is worth the risk.
“I know they say don’t travel, but my family is here, to me my family is important, it’s my immediate family. I don’t know what other people’s reasons are, but I think if you take the precautions that they ask you to take… family is so important, I don’t know, it’s just how I feel.”
© WLNE-TV 2020
