Millions of people in the U.S. are traveling ahead of Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday, despite a surging COVID-19 death toll and record hospitalizations.

Travelers' dismissal of increasingly dire warnings to stay home and limit their holiday gatherings fueled concerns of another wave of coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths during the December holiday season. Sharp rises in cases usually result in a rising death toll weeks later.

As more people traveled on Tuesday, the daily U.S. COVID-19 death toll exceeded 2,000 for the first time since May. A record 87,000 hospitalizations were reported on Tuesday as the country recorded 2.3 million new infections in the past two weeks alone.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local governments have been strongly urging people to remain at home and keep their Thanksgiving celebrations small.

Some 1 million people passed through U.S. airport checkpoints each day from Friday through Tuesday, a 60% decline from the same time a year ago but still the largest crowds since the coronavirus crisis took hold in the United States in March.

The American Automobile Association predicted fewer people would drive over the Thanksgiving holiday this year but did not offer specifics.

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