Long lines form at a drive-in Covid-19 testing site in Miami only days before Christmas as the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant threatens to disrupt the festive period
Millions of Americans are traveling before Christmas even as national Omicron Covid-19 infections surpass Delta’s peak and hospitals run out of space for patients.
Several thousand travelers face a grim Christmas Eve as airlines United, Delta and Alaska said Thursday they were canceling December 24 flights due to Covid.
Alaska Airlines said they canceled 17 flights after some employees “may have been exposed to the virus,” adding more trips may be scrapped.
At a newly opened federal testing site in New York City’s Travers Park, people formed long lines, wearing puffy winter gear in the bone-chilling cold.
Government workers handed out home tests to passersby — but with only 2,000 set aside for each of the five boroughs in a city of 8.4 million, the items are set to remain scarce for some time.
President Joe Biden — who as a candidate blasted Donald Trump for failures on the same issue — this week promised more testing sites and to ship out half a billion home kits, beginning January.
The American Automobile Association estimated 109 million people — a 30 percent increase on 2020 — will hit the road, board airplanes or take other transport on trips 50 miles (80 kilometers) or longer between December 23 and January 2.
– Omicron passes Delta –
Omicron now accounts for more than 90 percent of all cases in some regions.
Intensive care units are running at more than 90 percent capacity in many parts of the country.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new guidance to overcome a health worker shortage, allowing asymptomatic staff with Covid to return to work after seven days isolation, down from 10 days.
US health authorities are banking on vaccinations to lower the number of severe Covid cases, and inoculation numbers have been strong all week.
The Food and Drug Administration authorized a Merck-developed Covid capsule as a treatment for high-risk adults, after greenlighting Pfizer’s more effective pill a day earlier.
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Originally published as Millions travel across US as airlines cancel flights over Covid
