The state of Washington's Governor Jay Inslee has just released new travel guidance, even as it becomes evident that Americans are ignoring the CDC and public health experts' recommendations to avoid travel during the spring break season. Indeed, passenger traffic at the nation's airports has reached a pandemic-era high with checkpoint tallies topping one million for the past 10 days in a row.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) officials said they believe this weekend will be their busiest since the onset of COVID-19. The estimate for Friday's airport traffic alone was 80,000 travelers. SEA's Airport Media and Public Affairs Manager Perry Cooper said that they expect passenger numbers to keep rising over the next few weeks, as college and university students are released for their spring breaks, Q13 Fox reported.
Governor Inslee's previous state travel guidance, first implemented in November 2020, had advised those entering Washington from other states to self-quarantine for 14 days and altogether avoid non-essential interstate travel. Now, he's rescinding those recommendations and instead referring travelers to follow the CDC's updated guidance, which has been lately modified to reflect the latest science and present COVID-19 conditions.
The latest CDC guidance reduced the number of days needed for self-quarantine from 14 to 10, although that period may be shortened depending upon whether travelers take a COVID-19 test between three and five days after arrival.
It's also recommended that those coming from out of state get tested within the three days prior to their trip. Those who are eligible should also get vaccinated, keeping in mind it takes around 14 days from the final dose to achieve full immunity.
Although SEA is currently experiencing its highest passenger volumes of the entire year, the numbers are still 57 percent lower than pre-pandemic passenger counts for the same period, which averaged around 140,000 travelers per day.
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