Pandemic Passenger Record Set As Travel Bug Hits

As the world makes progress against the COVID-19 bug, people are getting the travel bug. The New York Times is reporting that last Friday was the busiest in U.S. airports in more than a year with 1.357 million people passing through security. For perspective, however, that’s just 62 percent of the total padding in sock feet through the security assembly line on the same day in 2019, which was a Tuesday and not the Friday before spring break. Perhaps not surprisingly, traditional spring break destinations, like Florida and Texas, which have also relaxed COVID-19-related restrictions, are among the top destinations.

The travel surge has lots of people in high places worried about the effect on the pandemic and the TSA is prominent among them. The agency said it anticipated the spring rush and stepped up recruitment to replace agents who contracted the virus while getting as many vaccinated as possible. More than 6,000 TSA employees have tested positive for the virus.