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Read This Before You Fly Anywhere for the Holidays
Recent studies have deepened our understanding of in-flight Covid-19 risks
After hitting a historic low in the first few months of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of air travelers in the U.S has been slowly ratcheting up. On October 18, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screened over 1 million air travelers in a single day, an emblematic number that hadn’t been reached since March. With the holiday season approaching, even more people may be encouraged to hop on a plane to visit their families.
“I do have a general sense that people are getting a little tired of not traveling or being isolated from their family and friends. They are looking forward to the holidays to get back together,” says Henry Wu, MD, director of Emory TravelWell Center and associate professor of infectious diseases at Emory University School of Medicine. That, of course, is concerning given that Covid-19 numbers are hitting daily records in the U.S., having reached over 170,000 cases on November 13, and may continue to rise particularly with colder weather, according to Wu.
