How 2020 Thanksgiving Passenger Numbers Compare

With the number of Covid-19 infections in the U.S. surpassing 13 million and a record 93,000 Americans currently hospitalized due to the disease, health officials warned people to refrain from traveling during the Thanksgiving holiday. Dr. Anthony Fauci, America's top infectious disease expert, warned on Sunday that the U.S. could experience a "surge upon a surge" of Covid-19 in the weeks after Thanksgiving. Tracking by the TSA shows that the pandemic did not deter people from flying with 900,000 passengers transiting through U.S. airports for seven consecutive days around Thanksgiving.

The volume of passengers even surpassed one million on three days - November 20, 22 and 25. Even though that is well short of the two million passengers recorded daily during last year's Thanksgiving week, it is still far higher than the number of Americans who were flying in the early days of the pandemic when the total volume came to around 100,000. Health officials are particularly worried that people likely attended large family gatherings indoors including people aged over 65 which could well contribute to a tidal wave of new infections in the weeks to come.