More than 2,000 flights were canceled around the world this Friday (24), according to the flight monitoring website Flight Aware, disrupting the Christmas plans of thousands of travelers.
The main reason is the increase in Covid cases caused by the new and highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus, which has also affected airline employees.
Of this total, the majority —22%— was related to the United States: there were 460 cancellations of internal trips, which would arrive in the country or depart from there to other countries.
Those Americans who managed to board, however, brushed aside concerns about a possible coronavirus infection in the second Christmas of the pandemic.
Moses Jimenez, an accountant from Long Beach, Mississippi, flew to New York with his wife and three children, though the coronavirus dashed his hopes of attending a “Hamilton” performance or visiting some museums.
“Hamilton” was one of a dozen Broadway shows forced to cancel performances this week as cast and crew members tested positive for Covid-19. Museums have been banned from the family’s itinerary because many now require proof of vaccinations and the two youngest children are not eligible for the injection.
Instead, Jimenez, 33, said his family will enjoy the trip walking the city’s streets and parks while seeing relatives and friends. On Christmas Day, they plan to enjoy a home-cooked meal, a family tradition, at their accommodation in town.
“We just wanted to get out of the house, really, take the kids into town for Christmas,” Jimenez told Reuters at New York’s LaGuardia airport.
Covid-19 infections have increased in the US in recent days due to omicron, which was first detected in November and now accounts for nearly three-quarters of cases in the US and up to 90% in some areas, such as the east coast.
The average number of new infections rose 37% to 165,000 a day last week, according to a Reuters count.
The daily totals of deaths and hospitalizations, however, changed little across the country in the last seven days, but jumped 55% and 28%, respectively, throughout December.
US health officials said people who are fully vaccinated should feel comfortable continuing with their vacation trips and family gatherings. They warned that those who have not been vaccinated are at greater risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from the virus.
The rapid spread of omicron will also undermine New York’s iconic New Year’s Eve celebration for the second year in a row. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the audience for the midnight festivities of the 31st in Times Square will be limited to 15,000 people.
According to The New York Times, in Australia dozens of flights were canceled in the main cities, Sydney and Melbourne, as the cases of coronavirus in the country reached their highest level since the beginning of the pandemic.
In Europe, a spokeswoman for the Eurostar service, which links Paris to London, said this Friday morning that, due to travel restrictions across the continent, a small number of trains had been canceled due to a drop in demand.
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