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Americans are flocking to airports for travel ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, even as the COVID-19 pandemic rages across the country and after the Centers for Disease Control pleaded with Americans not to travel. More than 1 million air travelers passed through security checkpoints at U.S. airports on Friday for only the second time since the pandemic began, according to the TSA. On Saturday, the travel numbers neared one million, bringing the two-day total to more than two million passengers. (Alexander, 11/23)

The nation’s health experts on Sunday pleaded with Americans to stay home over the Thanksgiving holiday and forgo any plans to travel or celebrate at large family gatherings, even as airports have recorded a significant rise in passengers. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease specialist, and other health experts relayed a clear message on Sunday morning news shows: with coronavirus cases surging to record levels across the country, turning nearly every state into a hot zone of transmission, the risk of getting infected, whether in transit or in even small indoor gatherings, is high. (11/23)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising air travelers get tested before and after flights to help stop the spread of the coronavirus ahead of the holiday travel season. Those planning to fly should get tested 1 to 3 days prior to the flight and again 3 to 5 days after traveling, according to new agency guidance on international air travel released late Saturday. CDC also is recommending people stay home for 7 days following their trips, even if they test negative. They should stay home for 14 days, if they aren't tested after travel, the agency said. (Beasley, 11/22)

PJ Brennan, chief medical officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, said Penn-affiliated testing sites have seen demand increase in the past four weeks. Since Nov. 9, 1,073 tests have been administered at its community testing site at 4040 Market St. for symptomatic patients, Brennan said, and 3,132 tests have been administered at Sayre, which has a partnership with Penn. “Last month, on average, we were testing around 550 people per week at Sayre and 450 per week at the West Philadelphia site,” Brennan said by email. “We suspect that the news about the increase in cases is likely causing people to worry more about COVID and driving them to testing.” (Ao, 11/20)

One-third of parents believe the benefits of gathering the family together for Thanksgiving is worth the risk of catching or spreading Covid-19, according to a new poll published Monday. That's despite the fact that nine out of 10 parents said grandparents -- one of the highest-risk groups for severe infections -- were typically at their Thanksgiving gathering. (LaMotte, 11/23)

Ginger Floerchinger-Franks typically invites 10 people to her home in Boise, Idaho, for Thanksgiving dinner and cooks the entire meal herself, including her specialty, pumpkin soup. But the pandemic has forced her to devise a new plan: a socially distant potluck. Three households will each prepare a dish, and Ms. Floerchinger-Franks will shuttle the platters between their homes. Then they will gather on Zoom to savor each other’s food. “This is kind of an adventure,” she said. (McDonnell Nieto del Rio and Wise, 11/22)

They have endured the strangest fall term in memory, cooped up in dormitories and apartments, taking classes mostly online, seeing professors in person only occasionally, if at all, hanging out with just a few close friends and imagining how this lakeshore capital in a state swamped by the coronavirus might someday recover its boisterous college vibe when the pandemic subsides. Now thousands of University of Wisconsin students are making getaway plans, part of a mass pre-Thanksgiving exodus from campuses nationwide that could spread the dangerous pathogen in hometowns across the country if students and schools aren’t careful. (Anderson and Svrluga, 11/22)

No one expected him home for the holidays -- but after 118 days in the hospital with Covid-19, Darell Slater will spend Thanksgiving with his family. Slater, 71, was first diagnosed with Covid-19 on July 13 along with his wife, his family said. After two weeks of quarantine, she recovered but he did not. (Johnson, 11/22)