Despite urging from the Centers for Disease Control to avoid travel during the pandemic, 45% of people have taken trips since March, according to a new survey from credit card review site The Points Guy.
Of those people who traveled since the start of the pandemic, 27% of respondents said they took one to two trips, 12% said they took three to four trips and 6% took more than four trips.
One-third of survey respondents said that they have a trip planned for 2021.
The Points Guy survey classified a “trip” as traveling several hours by car, plane, train or other mode of transportation.
Travel increases your chances of spreading or getting Covid-19, which is why the CDC recommends delaying travel at this time. It’s difficult to maintain social distance in airports and other travel hubs as well as on-board an airplane, train or bus.
Those who must travel should follow strict safety measures, including getting vaccinated if feasible, taking a viral test before and after a trip, self-quarantining for 10 days after traveling and of course wearing a mask, following proper hand hygiene and maintaining social distance. (Requirements can vary based on the state and local governments.)
In late January, President Joe Biden ordered a travel ban stopping non-U.S. citizens traveling from South Africa from entering the U.S. and extended travel restrictions for Europe, the U.K. and Brazil amid concerns that more contagious Covid variants were spreading.
Biden also signed a executive orders mandating face masks on airplanes, trains, buses and at airports and requiring international travelers to present a negative Covid-19 test before entering the U.S. and quarantine upon arrival.
As more people get vaccinated for Covid, travel will gradually ease up.
In 2020, travel spending dropped 42% and resulted in $492 billion in cumulative losses for the U.S. travel economy, according to data from the U.S. Travel Association.
The survey from The Points Guy looked at 1,300 U.S. adults between Jan. 25 and Jan. 26, 2021.
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