Holiday travel rush begins: TSA screened more than 1 million passengers Friday

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The holiday travel rush has begun at airports across the nation despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's advice to stay home this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Transportation Security Administration screened 1,066,747 passengers on Friday, the traditional start of the holiday travel season as vacation periods for schools and workplaces start. 

That's 1.5 million fewer passengers than a year ago, a 59% plunge, but is only the sixth time passenger counts topped 1 million since travel demand plummeted in mid-March. The low point came on April 14, with just 87,534 passengers screened.