Americans risk Thanksgiving travel despite warning

Millions of Americans took to the skies and the highways ahead of Thanksgiving at the risk of pouring gasoline on the coronavirus fire, disregarding increasingly dire warnings that they stay home and limit their holiday gatherings to members of their own household.

Those who are flying witnessed a distinctly 2020 landscape at the nation's airports during what is traditionally one of the busiest travel periods of the year: plexiglass barriers in front of the ID stations, rapid virus testing sites inside terminals, and paperwork asking them to quarantine on arrival at their destination.

While the number of Americans traveling by air over the past several days was down dramatically from the same time last year, many pressed ahead with their holiday plans amid skyrocketing deaths, hospitalizations and confirmed infections across the U.S.

Some were tired of more than eight months of social distancing and determined to spend time with loved ones.

The coronavirus is blamed for more than 12.6 million confirmed infections and over 269,000 deaths in the U.S.

More than 88,000 people in the U.S. - an all-time high - were in the hospital with COVID-19 as of Tuesday, pushing the health care system in many places to the breaking point, and new cases of the virus have been setting records, soaring to an average of over 174,000 per day.

More Americans drive than fly during the holiday, but AAA has projected those numbers are also likely to be ten percent lower this year compared to last year.

"Of all travel 95% will happen by car and there's a number of reasons for that," said Jeanette McGee, a AAA spokesperson.

"One, we typically do see vehicle travel as the most popular, but especially during COVID, because your vehicle provides so much security and comfort. You decide when you're traveling and when you're stopping."