December 1 The Thanksgiving holiday in the United States welcomed the largest air passenger flow since the outbreak of the epidemic, with air passenger traffic approaching 1.2 million on November 29.
The peak of travel has exacerbated the fear of virus spread. The United States is the country with the worst epidemic in the world. As of the evening of November 30, Eastern Time, the cumulative number of confirmed cases exceeded 13.5 million, and the cumulative number of deaths exceeded 260,000.
Peak travel
The Associated Press reported that in the 10 days to November 29, air passenger traffic exceeded 1 million in four days, reaching the peak since the outbreak of the epidemic in the United States on the 29th.
Air passenger traffic in the 10 days around Thanksgiving last year was more than 2 million. Although the scale of this year is not as large as last year, it still constitutes the peak of travel under the epidemic. In addition, the holiday traffic has also increased. The American Automobile Association had previously predicted that 50 million people might travel.
It is not certain about the specific impact of holiday travel on the epidemic for the time being. Health experts predict that a new wave of increase in hospitalizations due to COVID-19 may occur in 10 to 14 days.
Experts appeal to people to stay at home as much as possible after Thanksgiving travel. “If your family is traveling, you have to assume you’re exposed to the virus and infected,” Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Response Task Force, said in an interview with CBS on November 29.
Birx called for extra attention from the 65-year-old and older.
Thanksgiving this year is November 26. As a traditional holiday, Americans usually return home for reunion during the holiday season. The following day of Thanksgiving is a shopping festival called “Black Friday”.
Confirmation peak
CNN reported that the United States experienced an unprecedented surge in the number of confirmed cases in November. More than 30% of the cumulative confirmed cases were confirmed in November. The number of samples tested is also increasing, with 23% of the cumulative detection samples in November.
The number of hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients in the United States has recently reached a new high of 90,000, and medical institutions are under further pressure.
California’s hospitalizations could triple by Christmas, if the current trend is not changed, California’s governor Gavin Newsom said. He considers implementing “stay-at-home orders” in some seriously infected areas.
California has seen an 89% increase in hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the past two weeks, approaching 7,800 on November 30; intensive care cases have increased by 67% in the past two weeks.
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice said that West Virginia will do fewer elective surgery in the near future to ensure that patients with COVID-19 are admitted.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced an extension of the epidemic restrictions for 15 days. The admission of COVID-19 patients in Rhode Island hospitals is approaching the limit. In Kansas, the Kansas City health care system is worried about shortages of medical staff.
The Wisconsin Department of Health said on November 30 that there were more than 1,800 coronavirus hospitalizations in the state, and nearly one quarter of the hospitalizations were in intensive care.
