Cheap fares lure travelers to fly, despite pandemic
With the coronavirus pandemic escalating in the U.S. and overseas, Dylcia McBlackwell couldn’t justify taking a single spring vacation. Air fares were so cheap, she decided to book three.
Now the 39-year-old food service worker from Chicago has tickets to fly to Denver to visit friends next month followed by a May trip to Charleston, South Carolina. After that, she’s booked a flight to Costa Rica. All for a com- bined total of $435 for trips that might normally cost $700 or more.
“You have just one life to live,” said McBlackwell, who plans to bring wipes to disinfect the tray tables in front of her airplane seats, and perhaps her own snacks. “Are you going to spend it sitting in your house scared? I’d rather be out enjoying it.”
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover.
Regardless, airlines are seeing bookings plummet and cancellations soar as fear of infection causes many Americans to avoid flying. Travel to the U.S. has been barred from most of Europe, China and Iran. Domestically, business conferences, sporting events, music festivals and other large public gatherings have been scrapped or postponed.
Airlines have been slashing flight schedules, especially on international routes, to cope with downward-spiraling demand from fearful leisure customers and a slowdown in business travel. One industry trade group has warned the pandemic could cost airlines worldwide up to $113 billion in revenue.
The proliferation of empty airline seats has some travelers making spur-of-the-moment ticket purchases to take advantage of steeply discounted prices.
— Pastors across the United States delivered sermons to empty pews Sunday as houses of worship adjusted to the reality of the coronavirus pandemic, with the Vatican indicating that the holiest week on its calendar will look vastly different next month.
While many religious institutions around the country took to the internet to stream their services this week — including one megachurch that President Donald Trump tweeted he was tuning in to — some tried to take extra precautions while maintaining a semblance of their Sunday routine amid mounting public anxiety over the outbreak.
Trump, who had declared Sunday a special national day of prayer, said he would watch a livestreamed ser- vice by Jentezen Franklin, a Georgia-based pastor and long-standing evangelical ally of the president. The annual National Day of Prayer is May 7.
During his sermon, Frank- lin urged prayers for China and Iran, areas hit partic- ularly hard by the virus. Franklin also sought to acknowledge the fatal toll that coronavirus is already exacting worldwide while encouraging worshippers not to “let the fear flu get you” by falling prey to panic.
More than 5,800 people worldwide have died in the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with U.S. deaths topping 60. The vast major- ity of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.
Trump, who tested negative for the coronavirus according to a statement from his personal physician, tweeted that Frank- lin’s service was “great and beautiful.”
Franklin held his Sunday services exclusively online, as public health experts urge the cancellation of big gath- erings of all kinds to curtail the spread of coronavirus, but others did not.
A hardy few came to mostly empty churches as pastors faced hard decisions about continuing to hold ser- vices, and how to maintain the bonds of a congregation when large gatherings could transmit the coronavirus.
At St. Philip African Methodist Episcopal Church in Atlanta, about 100 people dotted a sanctuary built for thousands. The Rev. William
Watley told members that he would follow official directives on whether to have church after Sunday. Geor- gia Gov. Brian Kemp asked faith groups to consider call- ing off in-person services last week, a concern under- lined by the fact that some of Georgia’s 99 confirmed cases were spread at a church in Cartersville, northwest of Atlanta, where dozens of people were exposed.
Watley told people attending the 11 a.m. service that more than 500 people had viewed an earlier one online, even pointing out how peo- ple could submit their offer- ing online.
“Our goal is not to frighten anyone, but reduce public gatherings where there is an increased risk of exposure,” Watley told congregants.
There were notes of defi- ance. Watley, warming to his text from II Chronicles about how the people of
Judah won a battle thanks to prayer and faith, preached that he wasn’t about to shut his church’s doors.
“Some of the younger preachers said, ‘You going to have church?’ When you think about some of the mess that all of us have been through, the possibility of coronavirus . ... It’s going to take a more than this to stop us from serving and trusting God. His steadfast love endures!” Watley preached.
Although he quickly added: “You do your part. You wash your hands like you got sense.”
Archie James, a member of the church board at St. Philip, said more people were at church Sunday than he expected.
“We want to squash this thing and get it over with,” said James, a Conyers resident.