WASHINGTON: Millions of Americans defied public health guidelines on Thursday to spend a subdued Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends as coronavirus deaths surged worldwide. More than a million people were screened at US airports on Wednesday - the fifth straight day with roughly that number of air travelers bent on enjoying one of the biggest US annual celebrations.
The exodus came despite warnings that mass travel threatens to significantly worsen the pandemic in the country hardest hit, with a six-month high of more than 2,400 deaths in just the past 24 hours.
President-elect Joe Biden offer a message of hope however in a Thanksgiving video address that rallied Americans to pull together to defeat the outbreak. Vaccine breakthroughs have raised hopes for an end to the outbreak but much of the world faces a gloomy winter dampened by lockdowns, economic anxiety and devastating loss.
Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, said he was expecting "a surge superimposed upon a surge" caused by the big getaway, indicating that he would be restricting celebrations to an online chat with his daughters over a glass of wine.
Globally, more than 60 million infections and 1.4 million deaths have been recorded since the new coronavirus emerged in China late last year, according to a tally compiled by AFP from official sources.
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, a cherished tradition nearly a century old featuring giant balloons and colorful floats, went ahead in a truncated made-for-TV celebration across just one city block, with no crowds and much of it pre-recorded.
Biden described how he normally travels to the New England coast for a big family feast, but would be staying home in Delaware this year for a small get-together.
"I know this isn't the way many of us hoped we'd spend our holiday. We know that a small act of staying home is a gift to our fellow Americans," he said in his message, posted to social media.
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