The coronavirus pandemic is raging across the US as cases explode and deaths spike. More than 2,100 Covid-19-related deaths were reported Tuesday, the highest single-day number since May.
The United States recorded more than 171,000 new cases, Johns Hopkins University reported. A record-breaking number of patients are hospitalized at more than 88,000, the highest number of Covid-19 hospitalizations since the pandemic began and the 15th straight day of record admissions, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
Despite these skyrocketing statistics, millions of Americans are traveling for Thanksgiving to spend the holiday with family and friends. They’re packing into airports and boarding planes, ignoring guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advising against traveling this year.
The US could see an explosion of Covid-19 infections in the weeks following Thanksgiving, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a former White House medical team adviser, told CNN.
“It’s potentially the mother of all superspreader events.”
Many health officials believe the Midwest was seeded with Covid-19 last summer from just such an event, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota, Reiner said.
“Now imagine that on a massive scale — people leaving from every airport in the United States, and carrying virus with them,” he added.
Americans have been clamoring for Covid-19 tests before they travel, but Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir said during a press conference Tuesday don’t bother, that a test isn’t necessarily a good way to gauge whether an individual is fine to travel, unless they test positive, which in that case means stay home.
