Delta-shy Americans desert airlines: TSA reports lowest air travel numbers since May amid surge in COVID-19 cases
Air travel has seen it's biggest dip since May amid the surge in COVID-19 cases fueled by the highly contagious delta variant.
This week the Transportation Security Administration reported its lowest air travel numbers of the summer after hitting its highest traffic of the year at the beginning of August, CBS News reported.
TSA reported over 1.4 million people went through its checkpoints on Tuesday and over 1.5 million on Wednesday, a sharp dip from the 2.2 million reported in early August and the lowest number the agency has reported since May.
Transportation Security Administration checkpoint travel numbers for the week of Aug 20- Aug 26 over the last three years
Rising concerns about the COVID surge has led travelers to cancel their flights in record numbers causing a huge dip in summer air travel
The decline might be attributed to the current COVID surge sweeping the nation.
More than 100,000 Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 for the first time in eight months as the fourth wave of the pandemic continues.
According to data from the Department of Health and Human Services , 101,050 hospital beds are occupied by people receiving treatment for the virus.
This is a 147 percent increase from the 40,791 patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19 four weeks ago and the first time this number has hit six figures since late January during the deadly winter 2020-21 surge.
TSA reported over 1.4 million people went through its checkpoints on Tuesday and over 1.5 million on Wednesday, a sharp dip from the 2.2 million reported in early August
The decline might be attributed to the current COVID surge fueled by the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus
This week the TSA reported its lowest air travel numbers of the summer after hitting its highest traffic of the year at the beginning of August
A recent survey from Cars.com found 'rising concerns' over COVID forced a fifth of travelers planning to fly to cancel their flights and drive instead.
The survey also found that over 60 percent of travelers state they are concerned about the delta variant while traveling and nearly a quarter of travelers surveyed said they changed their destination due to an uptick of COVID-19 cases in a particular area- specifically Florida, which is seeing a 19.8 percent positivity rate among tested individuals.
'There's a lot more anxiety with airlines, with hotels, with cruise lines and all members of the travel industry right now compared to just a couple of months ago,' travel analyst Henry Harteveldt told CBS News.
As air travel opened up again following lockdowns airlines have had to deal with a rise of unruly passengers aboard flights.
This year, the FAA imposed a zero-tolerance policy for interfering with or assaulting flight attendants that carries a fine of up to $35,000 and possible jail time.
Of the 3,900 cases reported, the FAA has opened 682 investigations into possible violations of federal laws.
The number of cases under investigation are about three times the number the agency has had to deal with in the last 15 years.