(ETH) – Due to the surge of Covid-19 cases, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking unvaccinated Americans not to travel during the Labor Day holiday weekend.
According to CNN, The US is surpassing an average of 160,000 new Covid-19 cases a day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. With the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant and many students returning to the classroom for a new academic year, the rise is concerning officials and health experts.
“First and foremost, if you are unvaccinated, we would recommend not traveling,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a White House COVID-19 Response Team Briefing on Tuesday. Walensky said that while people who are fully vaccinated can travel with precautions, current transmission rates mean they too need to take Covid-19 risk into consideration when deciding whether to travel.
The Daily Mail stated that with school starting and the highly contagious ‘Delta’ variant still a threat – particularly in states like Florida, Mississippi, and Washington – health professionals want Americans to be cautious over the three-day weekend.
With that said, a ValuePenguin survey of U.S. consumers said on September 1 that one in five Americas – 51 million – are traveling for Labor Day. And Florida – which is among the hardest-hit state by COVID-19 and has less than 10 percent of its hospital beds available – is the top destination, according to the survey.
Sophia Mendel, a travel writer at ValuePenguin, said she believes the state’s lax Covid rules are among the reasons it is the most popular U.S. Labor Day vacation spot. ‘A state with lax Covid restrictions is a bonus for those who want to make sure their travel plans don’t get canceled, even at the risk of possibly contracting and spreading COVID-19,’ Mendel said.
