The TSA said last week it screened 6.5 million people, down 60% from 2019.
Still, health experts are worried about what will happen.
“Every holiday to date during this pandemic, roughly 10 days after the holidays, there has been a dramatic increase in cases in the United States, and that will definitely happen with this one,” said Dr David Agus, CBS News medical contributor.
Agus says the problem this time around is that the cases were already very high.
CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
In New York City, 1,522 new cases were reported as of Thanksgiving, and so far the average seven-day positivity rate is 3.33 percent.
Governor Andrew Cuomo says we are dealing with community spread.
“People who don’t even know they have the virus, it’s not that they’re going to be malicious, it’s going to be accidental,” the governor said.
This week he rolled out what he calls his winter plan. It is divided into three parts. The first part is to expand its micro-cluster strategy to include available hospital beds in areas with high infection rates.
“The second factor in the winter plan is going to be to keep schools open, especially K-8,” Cuomo said. “All the data indicates that schools are safer than the surrounding community.”
The third part is to develop a vaccine distribution plan.
CORONAVIRUS: NY Department of Health | NY Call 1- (888) -364-3065 | New York Department of Health | NYC Call 311, SMS COVID to 692692 | NJ COVID-19 Information Center | NJ Call 1- (800) -222-1222 or 211, send NJCOVID to 898211 | CT Health Dept. | CT Appeal 211 | Centers for Disaster Control and Prevention
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, the numbers don’t look good either. Overnight, the state added 4,100 new COVID cases as well as 19 additional deaths.
In Connecticut, this week alone the positivity rate was 5.99%.
Given this reality, Agus says if you were out there, follow the directions.
“Fourteen days is optimal for quarantine. Seven to ten days with a test at the end is okay now, so you need to assess your own risk. If it was just you and Grandma, you probably don’t have to do anything, ”Agus said.
Meanwhile, the New York sheriff’s office has set up COVID checkpoints across the city to make sure people are playing by the rules.
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