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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Despite pleas from health officials not to travel right now because of the COVID pandemic, the holiday hustle is on in South Florida.
Many travelers told CBS4’s Ted Scouten they’re comfortable getting on planes.
“As long as people follow regulations then I feel like it’s fine. As long as you keep your mask on, you’re not traveling while you’re sick,” Nathan Milisky said.
With Christmas present in hand, Milisky is heading to Pittsburgh.
Both South Florida airports are expecting big crowds.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport estimates 940,000 people will travel this holiday period, while that’s half of last year’s total, it’s still about 75,000 passengers a day.
At Miami International Airport they’re expecting more than 1.1 million passengers. That’s also down from last year, but averaging around 68,000 people coming and going every day.
“What we’ll see and what we’re projecting for the next 17 days is about half the passengers we had this time last year, which we’ve seen as a success if that happens,” said MIA spokesman Greg Chin.
With so many expecting to travel, lines for testing at Hard Rock Stadium were long Monday, with about a 3-hour wait.
They’re expected to stay that way through Wednesday.
“Just like we saw with Thanksgiving, we’ve seen an increase in demand,” said Hard Rock COVID testing site spokesman Mike Jachles. “People are traveling and they want to check their COVID status. With that we see the increased demand and we are ready to handle it.”
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Many travelers told Scouten that before they go anywhere, they want a negative test.
“I got tested weekly,” said Noesha Ferrell. “So I’m pretty clear that I’m good.”
At FLL, you can get checked just before departure at the airport’s COVID testing site.
Yasasha McKenzie is heading to Jamaica for the holidays. But before seeing family, she wanted to make sure she’s virus free.
“It’s very important because you know that you’re protecting your family and not only your family but the other people out there,” McKenzie said.
The busiest travel days are expected to be the weekend after Christmas and New Year’s as well as the day after Three Kings Day.
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