Tulsa International Airport Expecting Busy Travel Week For Spring Break

Health experts say there is naturally going to be some concern about Spring Break travelers spreading COVID, but if everyone continues to take precautions, they feel confident about not having to deal with a huge surge.

For travelers like Dolores Urby, COVID-19 hasn't been a concern.

"I've been doing this since the beginning of COVID, so I feel pretty safe considering I have not gotten sick yet.," Urby said.

According to the latest Epidemiology report, the state health department is moving towards the endemic phase of the pandemic.

Abhishek Shakya, an Epidemiologist with the Tulsa Health Department said he is seeing the rise in traveling with cautious optimism.

"With the spring break travel, there's going to be a lot of people that are going to be joining a lot of people so there can always be a concern for cases to go up, but it's just a matter of time we'll know if there will be an uptick or not," Shakya said. "But I would say it's concerning as well as I feel like I'm confident that it might not be that high of a rise."

Andrew Pierini with the Tulsa International Airport said they are expecting more people to come in and out of the airport for spring break than years past.

"Really since probably about June of last year In 2021 is where we started seeing our traffic numbers get close to 90-95 percent back compared to pre-COVID numbers in 2019," Pierini said. "We're definitely starting to see that already here at the be-beginning of March."

Urby says even though she feels safe, she thinks airport COVID guidelines should stick around a little more.

"I still think it's a good idea to continue the masking," Urby said. "Especially in places like the airport."

Pierini says protocols such as mask-wearing inside the airport and on the planes have been extended through April 18th.

He says the decision to remove the mandate will be up to TSA and the federal government.