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Air travelers at Washington National Airport (November 24th): Millions of travelers around the festival
Photo: Jacquelyn Martin / dpa
Thanksgiving, the American harvest festival, is traditionally a date when families get together - and one of the most travel-intensive holidays of all.
That was also the case this year, despite Corona warnings.
Millions of Americans have sat on planes, trains and buses in the middle of the pandemic, means of transport that are likely to be at high risk of infection.
Now the hospitals fear that the situation will be further aggravated by the long weekend of celebrations.
On Sunday, the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore reported 109,671 new corona cases, plus 731 fatalities within one day.
Another number causes discomfort among experts: 93,238 people were in hospital for treatment for Covid-19 on Sunday - a new high.
The situation in the hospitals threatens to escalate
People who got infected on Thanksgiving should show up in the statistics in about two to three weeks and, if the disease is severe, in the hospitals.
"It's like a natural disaster in all 50 states at the same time," CNN quoted analyst Dr.
Megan Ranney of Brown University in Rhode Island: “There aren't enough beds.
There aren't enough staff.
And because we haven't prepared at the federal level, there isn't enough equipment. "
Clear warnings also come from the orbit of President Donald Trump.
Deborah Birx, coordinator of the Corona task force in the White House, told the broadcaster CBS: "It looked as if the situation in the northern large states would ease.
But now, because of Thanksgiving, we're afraid that all of this will be wiped out. ”The number of cases, according to Birx, are“ three, four and ten times ”as high as the last escalation after Memorial Day weekend at the end of May.
The warnings were clear - yet many ignored them
Anthony Fauci is also part of the Corona working group; he has developed into one of the most prominent virus experts in the USA during the crisis.
What he said to NBC does not sound any less gloomy than with Birx and Ranney: »Unfortunately, what we expect with a view to the next few weeks in December is that we could have a new wave - in addition to the wave we are in "It is too late to take countermeasures, but travelers should definitely observe the recommendations on keeping a distance from fellow travelers and wearing face masks.
Before Thanksgiving, the US health authority CDC had urgently advised against the usual trips across the US to visit family members, but millions of US citizens were not deterred.
The United States is the hardest hit country in the world by the pandemic.
In total, the United States has already recorded more than 13 million corona cases.
More than 266,000 infected people died.
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jok / dpa