In early November the United States became the first nation to see more than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases reported in a single day.

A  wide variety of people who don’t get symptoms make being out in public potentially dangerous for people With the holidays approaching, people have the urge to travel and visit family. The White House throughout the pandemic has continued to downplay the threat so people worry less, leading to numbers rising. 

Important Facts:

• Researchers say the pandemic is responsible for roughly 1,000 fatalities per day, six times the average daily toll from the worst influenza season in the past decade
• It’s known that 20% to 40% of those infected are thought to be asymptomatic – they never exhibit any symptoms
• Travel by bussing is something to avoid, they are considered high risk and are COVID transmission hot spots
• When looking to travel, going by plane is the safest route. Planes have turbo-charged ventilation systems. Cars are also safer and an alternative when visiting people for Christmas and New Years
• The lack of personal protective equipment remains a chronic problem, especially in hot spots for the virus

Travel is risky and unsafe right now but when looking for an option to get from place to place airplanes are the safest option for public transportation. Planes have a system installed to prevent recycled air from entering the cabin and potentially exposing others to the virus.  Several airlines also instilled strict mask-wearing mandates and some require temperature checks and negative COVID test results before allowing passengers to board.

Around the ending of November is when Kansas got hit the worst with a total of 7,497 confirmed cases. This was confirmed on November 23. As of December, the reports of positive tests have been in the 4,000s in the area. The reason for explaining the COVID-19 scores isn’t to scare people; it is simply to spread awareness of the current crisis.

it is key to note that America’s 60 million rural residents are older. Many of these older members of the community are diagnosed with chronic health problems at higher rates than the national average. It is important to understand that these older people are considered more at risk from the virus. Getting a COVID test to make sure you are negative before seeing people will end up being the best bet for keeping yourself and other people safe. False negatives are common though, and it’s no guarantee that you or anyone you know that might be traveling aren’t contagious. No matter what precautions you take a large number of gatherings have turned into spreader events because people who tested assumed it was safe to be in a large group.

Thinking about other people and not just yourself is something that has the possibility to be life-saving.