Nearly 140,000 people flew out of San Francisco International Airport last week, 81% fewer than during the same period last year.
Data from the Transportation Security Administration shows a 58% drop nationally over the same dates.
âPeople are doing the right thing, or … the large majority of people are doing the right thing,” said UCSF epidemiologist George Rutherford.
Oakland International Airport officials are projecting 200,000 travelers fron Dec. 18 through Jan. 3, which would be a 66% drop from 2019.
New COVID-19 cases in San Francisco, San Mateo and Alameda counties are steadily dropping from their mid-December peak. Rutherford credits the decline to the preemptive measures taken by those counties on Dec. 6, 10 days before the state required the entire region to be placed under the same restrictions.
Itâs too early to tell how this holiday season will affect transmission rates, Rutherford said, as cases transmitted today wonât show up in the hospital for at least three weeks.
âEven if we were to stop transmission today, thereâs still three weeks of people in the pipeline that are headed to the hospitals and ICUs,â he said.
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