Birx urges Thanksgiving travelers to get tested: 'You have to assume that you were exposed and you became infected'

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Mon, 2020-11-30 10:07 — mike kraft

(CNN) As millions of people in the United States travel back home from the Thanksgiving holiday, daily Covid-19 hospitalizations are inching closer to 100,000 -- the highest they've ever been.

Now health experts are asking those who gathered with people outside their households to get tested.

"If your family traveled, you have to assume that you were exposed and you became infected," White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx told CBS on Sunday.

She also recommended those older than 65 get tested immediately if they develop any symptoms.

"If you're over 65 or you have comorbidities and you gathered at Thanksgiving -- if you develop any symptoms, you need to be tested immediately," Birx said.

More people passed through airport security on Sunday than on any other single day since the coronavirus pandemic cratered air travel, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

TSA screened 1.17 million people on Sunday, when many Americans were heading home from their Thanksgiving travels, it said. That means more than 9.4 million people were screened in the Thanksgiving travel window, which began the Friday before the holiday.

November has been a month of unprecedented coronavirus surge, with 27 consecutive days of new cases surpassing 100,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

And as hospitalizations reached a new record of 93,238 on Sunday, it was the third time the metric surpassed 90,000 this month, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

... ALSO SEE Fauci: US may see 'surge upon surge' of virus in weeks ahead

AND: Top health officials agree Americans who traveled for Thanksgiving should get tested. But this is where they differ

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