Thanksgiving travelers head out despite dire COVID warnings
AAA forecasts at least a 10% drop in travel this Thanksgiving
NEW YORK (WABC) -- This is shaping up to be the busiest travel weekend of 2020. But those numbers are still way down from what we are used to seeing.
In fact, according to the Port Authority, officials are expecting a 71 percent decrease in the number of air travelers through New York's major airports this Thanksgiving travel weekend.
Still, that's about 500,000 people traveling over the next several days by air through the New York area.
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Nationwide, AAA is expecting about 48 million Americans to travel by car.
While many Americans are choosing to skip Thanksgiving travel, at LaGuardia Airport in Queens the TSA says it is doing what it can to limit contact with the public.
"We do deep sanitization of checkpoints on a regular basis, so we know our procedures are consistent with the CDC guidance," said one TSA official.
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"You know, even if you get tested before you go, you just can't guarantee that you're not going to pick up the virus as you're as you're traveling, and, you know, give it to the rest of your family when you see them," said Joshua Holman, who canceled his own travel plans. "It's just not worth the risk right now."
If you are traveling in and out of the New York metro area you have to follow the quarantine rules if you're not an essential worker.
That means quarantining for 14 days when you come back or getting a negative test before your trip and then another test four days after you return.
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