TSA screens more than 1 million passengers for 5th straight day amid COVID pandemic

The TSA says it screened more than one million passengers at airport checkpoints for a fifth straight day Wednesday.

Officials said it was the third busiest day since the coronavirus pandemic began, with more than 1.1 million passengers screened nationwide.

The TSA says checkpoint traffic has exceeded a million people nine days out of the last two weeks.

Still, the number of travelers pales in comparison to that seen in a normal year.

The agency says passenger volume has remained steady, but the recent spike in travel is raising concerns about a possible increase in the number of COVID cases.

They expect cases related to holiday gatherings to spike over the next two weeks.

Major airlines say they're doing everything they can to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including disinfecting flights with electrostatic sprayers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not recommend traveling this holiday season, saying the safest way to celebrate is at home.

Anyone planning to travel anyway should check local and statewide COVID-19 restrictions. On Wednesday and Thursday, the United States set consecutive records for most deaths related to the virus.

The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projects that more than 237,000 Americans will die of COVID-19 in the next three months.