CLEVELAND, Ohio — The American Automobile Association (AAA) predicts travel for Thanksgiving this year will have numbers not seen since before the pandemic, which could spread a lot of unwanted illnesses.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s Chief Medical Advisor, warned people ahead of the holiday season. 

“We’re getting into the cooler, if not colder, months of the late fall and early winter. That’s a perfect set-up to get an up-tick in respiratory diseases,” Fauci said.

Dennis Kramer, the interim director at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, said about 260,000 passengers will travel from their airport from Friday through the Sunday after Thanksgiving. He also suggested travelers take steps to keep themselves and others healthy.

“We encourage people to take all the necessary protocols in wearing a mask, if they feel comfortable doing that, encouraging social distancing still, anything they can do to make sure we’re safe and healthy,” he said.

Kramer explained that the airport has measures in place to ensure the safety of their passengers.

“A lot of the things that we implemented in response to COVID, we’ve continued to do to make sure that we have a very clean and sanitized facility for our customers,” he said.

COVID is not the only concern. Influenza and the common cold become more prevalent as the weather gets colder. Dr. Carl Fichtenbaum, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Cincinnati, said that it’s important to check in with how you’re feeling and be mindful of other people that you could get sick.

“It is possible to pick up many of these different viruses and so I think the prudent thing to do there is, I do recommend wearing a mask because there’s just so many viruses around,” he said.

The CDC recommends getting tested for COVID-19 no more than three days before traveling.