Travel in Pennsylvania down more than expected

Posted: Dec 1, 2020 / 11:46 AM EST / Updated: Dec 1, 2020 / 11:46 AM EST

FILE – Travelers make their ways to the south security checkpoint in the main terminal of Denver International Airport Wednesday, July 22, 2020, in Denver. U.S. public health officials are revising their travel advisory information. So if Taiwan or Greenland are in your travel plans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says you can go ahead and pack your bags. Previously, the agency told U.S. travelers to avoid all nonessential travel because of the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – Travel numbers in Pennsylvania were down substantially over the holiday weekend.

At Harrisburg International Airport officials were expecting to see a decrease in travel due to the pandemic, but were expecting flights to be about 70 percent full.

They say on a normal thanksgiving weekend flights would usually be about 80 to 90 percent full.

Airlines say that flights were only about half full throughout the weekend– with many guests cancelling their pre-scheduled flights.

PA Health Secretary Doctor Rachel Levine says this travel needs to continue to stop throughout the upcoming holiday season.

“Our recommendation for the upcoming holidays is to please stay home and I know that that is a tremendous sacrifice for Christmas, or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, and for New Year’s,” said Dr. Rachel Levine.

Doctor Levine also says she’s worried that the prospects for a COVID vaccine could cause people to let down their guards early.