Holiday Travel Returns as New COVID-19 Variant Emerges – NBC 7 San Diego
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According to the TSA, 2 million people passed through US airport security in the seven days leading up to Thanksgiving, took a bath on Thanksgiving and the day after, before seeing another surge in travelers on Saturday.
Many people said they were happy to visit friends and family again and feel safe during an ongoing pandemic.
“Everyone is masked, so it feels safe,” said traveler Anjali Naik.
The vacation travel time comes when a new variant of COVID-19 called omicron emerged.
The new variant was first discovered in South Africa and has now spread to many European countries and Canada.
Some of those surveyed at San Diego International Airport felt it was too early to decide if this will change their travel plans in the future.
“I think I don’t have the information right now to really feel this way or that,” said Naik.
Some travelers want to keep traveling despite news that a new variant is emerging.
“As long as it doesn’t interfere with our trip, I think it doesn’t matter,” said traveler Marty Douglas.
The World Health Organization and the Biden Administration regard the Omicron variant as a “worrying variant”.
The US will suspend travel to many South African countries from November 29th.
“People have to research how contagious it is and how well it can bypass immune responses, but what we can see is that the virus has made a number of mutations. I think there are 30 weird mutations and we know that some of those mutations make the virus more contagious, ”said Dr. Davey Smith, director of infectious diseases at UC San Diego.
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