Data shows Americans couldn’t resist Thanksgiving travel

Excerpt of story by Stephen Groves, Associated Press, Dec. 3, 2020

Americans were less willing to change their transportation behaviors on Thanksgiving than on “any other day during the pandemic,” said StreetLight Data CEO Laura Schewel in a recent AP report on Thanksgiving travel trends.

The Associated Press detailed a StreetLight analysis that found peak vehicle traffic on Thanksgiving Day was only about 5% less than on the pandemic-free holiday in 2019. Meanwhile, airports saw more than 1 million passengers over the four-day travel period. 

“Since the pandemic gutted travel in March, there has been only one other day when the number of travelers topped 1 million — Oct. 18.”

The spike in activity came amid a chorus of pleas from public health experts urging Americans to stay home over the Thanksgiving holiday. Just one week after Thanksgiving, U.S. COVID-related deaths reached a new single-day record of 3,100, the Associated Press reports.

Read the full Associated Press story here.