WASHINGTON – Millions of Americans are traveling before Christmas even as national Omicron Covid-19 infections surpass Delta’s peak and hospitals run out of space for patients.
Several thousand travelers face a grim Christmas Eve as airlines United, Delta and Alaska said Thursday they were canceling December 24 flights due to Covid.
United Airlines said it had called off about 120 flights over the “nationwide spike in Omicron cases,” with Delta Air Lines telling customers they had pulled 90 flights.
Alaska Airlines said they canceled 17 flights after some employees “may have been exposed to the virus,” adding more trips may be scrapped.
A Christmas testing crunch compounded the country’s problems, with pharmacy appointments in big cities booked, government sites overwhelmed and home kits nowhere to be found.
At a newly opened federal testing site in New York City’s Travers Park, people formed long lines, wearing puffy winter gear in the bone-chilling cold.
“I was planning to meet up with my family, but I might be positive for Covid, so that’s something that I don’t think is going to be happening,” Queens resident Maria Felix said as she awaited her result.
Government workers handed out home tests to passersby — but with only 2,000 set aside for each of the five boroughs in a city of 8.4 million, the items are set to remain scarce for some time.
“It is so sad that only 2,000 tests are available,” said Jocelyn Antigua, who wanted to check her Covid status before seeing her elderly parents.
President Joe Biden — who as a candidate blasted Donald Trump for failures on the same issue — this week promised more testing sites and to ship out half a billion home kits, beginning January.
But there are signs that Covid was not massively deterring travel.
The American Automobile Association estimated 109 million people — a 30 percent increase on 2020 — will hit the road, board airplanes or take other transport on trips 50 miles (80 kilometers) or longer…