coronavirus new york

Coronavirus NY: Busiest travel day of pandemic expected as COVID cases rise

ByDiana Rocco WABC logo

Sunday, January 3, 2021

Busiest travel day expected as COVID cases climb across Tri-State

New York's major airports, LaGuardia, JFK and Newark, are anticipating a very busy travel day.

QUEENS, New York (WABC) -- The busiest travel day since the start of the pandemic is expected Sunday, as COVID cases continue to rise across the Tri-State.

Before the Christmas holiday, TSA was screening an average of about 1 million people a day nationwide.

TSA screened nearly 1.2 million people at airport security checkpoints nationwide Saturday, according to TSA Spokesperson Lisa Farbstein.

They are expecting about the same on Sunday. That's the most we've seen since this pandemic started and all of those who are traveling are expected to be heading home.

New York's airports, LaGuardia, JFK and Newark, are anticipating a very busy travel day.

According to TSA, more than a million people are also expected to fly at some point Sunday.

On New Year's Day, TSA screened more than 800,000 people, despite warnings from health experts for Americans to stay home.

Nationally we have just surpassed more than 20 million cases of COVID, and one million in New York state

There have been long lines outside testing centers, this as the state's COVID positivity rate is now over 7% and New York City's rate is just shy of 9.5%.

Both of those percentages are down slightly as more doses of the vaccine become available to health care and emergency service workers .

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says he expects a surge in cases over the next couple of weeks.

"There has been an apparent increase post-holiday gatherings let's call it, we have to watch this -- we understood the holidays would bring people together, if they're not careful we'll have a viral spread but we're gonna have to watch this over the next few days and find out exactly where we are when this stabilizes," Governor Cuomo said.

Nationwide, 3 million people have been vaccinated thus far.

New York State is doubling down on quarantine regulations with the New York City Sheriff's Department cracking down on travelers from UK.