Travel Increasing As CDC Releases New Guidelines For People Fully Vaccinated Against COVID
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — For the last 22 days, the Transportation Security Administration has screened more than one million passengers per day nationwide — the longest streak since the pandemic began — proving that people are once again ready to fly.
"I have not flown in all this time," Leticia Cardona, a traveler, said. "We've laid low, I didn't want to expose them to anything, so I'm ready. At this point I'm ready."
But as spring break travelers hustled to try and get on overbooked flights Friday at Los Angeles International Airport, the Cardonas got stuck at the airport.
"We fly standby, so we weren't able to get on the flight, it got booked," Cardona said.
According to the TSA, the number of people traveling this week has reached new heights for the pandemic.
"The flights are so overbooked and everyone is traveling for spring break," Simran Sangha, a traveler, said. "They said we could take a flight back Sunday morning."
Also on Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that people who were fully vaccinated could start traveling again.
"Fully vaccinated grandparents can fly to visit their healthy grandkids without getting a COVID-19 test or self quarantining," Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC director, said.
But, despite the new guidelines, the CDC still recommends against travel since COVID numbers are on the rise in some parts of the country.
The agency also suggests those who are not vaccinated to get tested before and after traveling, something the Barth family was doing before flying out later this weekend.
"We want to make sure that we're safe before we travel and when we get back, so we know we didn't get anything over there and bring it back with us," Mark Bath said.
The CDC also recommends people traveling internationally get tested for COVID before returning, even if they are vaccinated.
"Fully vaccinated people should get tested, and have a negative test result, before they board an international flight back into the United States," Walensky said.
But with so many Americans still unvaccinated, many at LAX were quick to point out that they were taking all of the recommended precautions for safe travel.
"I'm still cautious," Sangha said. "I'm still hand sanitizing, mask, I don't think I'm ever going to go completely back to normal."