THANKSGIVING TRAVEL SURGE

Thanksgiving travel is surging as new coronavirus cases approach 200,000 a day in the United States, according to a KCRA 3 News report.

Despite the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention having issued guidance urging Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving, millions of people are still planning to travel over the holiday week.

The number of travelers screened at U.S. airport security checkpoints topped 1 million for only the second time since March over the weekend, according to Transportation Security Administration figures. That's still just 40% of the volume screened before Thanksgiving a year ago.

Many weary Americans eager to join family and friends for Thanksgiving face another risk calculation as they weigh scrapping travel plans at the last minute or going ahead as COVID-19 cases surge.

Gail Duilio, a retired public health nurse in Portland, Oregon, has canceled her flight to Minnesota for the holiday and her mother's 93rd birthday.

"When making the arrangements a month ago, I felt the risks vs. benefits weighed on the side of going," she told CNN. This week, the risks tipped the scales in the other direction for her.

Travel organization AAA has said that it expects at least a 10% drop in travel this Thanksgiving because of spiking coronavirus cases, shifting travel restrictions and calls by health and government officials for people to stay home.