Travelers that headed home after celebrating Thanksgiving were responsible for the busiest Thanksgiving travel seasons on the record. Austin airport officials say almost 190,000 passengers have flown in and out of the airport since last Friday.
Travelers and Omicron COVID
However, there are now some new fears about the Omicron COVID variant which are spreading across the nation which is putting a scare into the travel industry. Yet, many people are traveling out of Austin that do not have those similar fears.
“In fact, we have taken most of the precautions that we are supposing to take. Thus, I do feel comfortable as I’m vaccinating so not too worrying about it,” Matthew Hall said. He is traveling to a state near the Atlantic Ocean.
Eight African Nations
Identified in South Africa, the Omicron variant is now ‘a variant of concern.’ This is according to the World Health Organization. Starting Monday, the U.S. has ordered restrictions on international flights from eight southern African nations. This is where scientists did detect the new strain of COVID-19.
Closing Off Countries
“In fact, what I mean, I guess the question should be what is the goal? Though actually, it is not clear that closing off countries actually has been an effective policy in slowing the spread,” Callen Anthony, said who actually is traveling back to New York City.
“Moreover, it is like, it is already here actually,” Hall said.
Thus Dr. Peter Hotez with the Baylor College of Medicine does agree travel bans have not been effective. Also, he said there still is not substantial enough evidence to know whether this variant is going to outdo the Delta variant. That is the largest threat.
“Right now, the most important thing we really should know right now is how transmissible is this variant,” Dr. Hotez said.
On Sunday, top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci informed President Joe Biden that it will take about two more weeks to have more information. This is in regard to the transmissibility and the severity of the variant.
