Many Americans Don't Care About COVID-19 Alerts Because Thanksgiving Is A Celebration They Will Never Miss

Photo illustration at Chicago Airport (Drew Graham / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Millions of Americans (US) seem to ignore public health warnings. They're still traveling ahead of this week's Thanksgiving holiday.

Authorities say that stance is likely to spark a worrying spike in coronavirus infections before a promising new vaccine series becomes widely available.

With US COVID-19 infections hitting a record 168,000 new cases per day, Americans are flocking to airports, which is deemed contrary to advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), US general surgeons and even Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading expert usually trusted on infectious diseases in the country.

For Americans, a long weekend getaway, which starts on Thursday, is traditionally the busiest travel period of the year. And 2020 proved to be no exception.

About a million passengers passed through airport security gates on Sunday, the highest number since March. This is the second time in three days that US air travel checks have surpassed one million, although the number is down nearly 60 percent from the same time last year, the US Transportation Security Administration said.

The American Automobile Association also estimates that 45 million to 50 million people will go to the roads during the holidays, compared with 55 million in 2019. Soaring rates of coronavirus infection, death and hospitalizations continue.

The seven-day average number of U.S. COVID-19 deaths rose for a 12 consecutive day, hitting 1,500 on Monday, according to official Reuters data tally, while nationwide coronavirus hospitalizations jumped nearly 50 percent over the past two weeks.

To date, the highly contagious respiratory virus has killed more than 255,000 Americans, with more than 12 million infected since the pandemic began.

State and local government officials have reimposed a number of restrictions on social and economic life in recent weeks to reduce the spread, as medical experts warn the surge is straining the resources of the country's health care system.

Appealing to residents to stay home and avoid gatherings during the holiday season, Governor Andrew Cuomo reminded New Yorkers of the early days of the grim pandemic when as many as 800 people died in one day across the state.

Hospitalizations surged 122 percent in New York state over the past three weeks, Cuomo said, prompting the re-opening of an emergency medical facility on Staten Island. Health officials urged Americans to resist the temptation to let their guard down, noting that aid will arrive in the form of a vaccine that promises ahead of early US distribution.

The head of the US campaign for rapid delivery of the vaccine said the first injections could begin to be given to healthcare workers and other high priority recipients as early as mid-December, within a day or two of receiving regulatory approval.

Vaccines from Pfizer Inc and its German counterpart, BioNTech, are expected to get approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with a second vaccine from Moderna Inc due for FDA review before the end of the year.

The final-stage trials of both vaccines are about 95 percent effective in preventing infection. UK's third vaccine maker, AstraZeneca, announced its candidate has proven to be 90 per cent effective without serious side effects, and 700 million doses could be available globally by the end of the first quarter of 2021.