COLUMBIA, S.C. — In the lobby of the Columbia Metropolitan Airport stood Elizabeth Kovach and her sister.
They hugged each other tightly, tears in their eyes, as they prepared to be separated again after a short Thanksgiving holiday together.
“I told her today, I don’t want to leave,” Kovach said. “It meant everything.”
Kovach is from Illinois, but flew to South Carolina for a small holiday gathering.
“We've lost one of our sister's this year, so being able to spend time with my other sister really meant everything,” Kovach said. “I had also just recently lost a friend to suicide, so being able to be with people that love me and I love too just it meant the world; it was good for my heart."
Despite her losses, seeing family this holiday, she said, was no easy decision as the coronavirus remains a concern and health experts warn against travel.
With millions expected to have left home, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s infectious disease expert, worries the rise in cases has likely already begun.
“We have to be careful now because there almost certainly is going to be an uptick because of what has happened with the travel,” Dr. Fauci said. “We understand the importance of families getting together, and it's just something that we have to deal with, that we likely will have an increase in cases as we get into the colder weeks of the winter and as we approach the Christmas season."
Now, as families return home, he’s asking everyone to be cautious.
"That may be when you go back to where you've came from, if it's possible to quarantine yourself for a period of time or even get tested to make sure that you're not bringing infection back,” Dr. Fauci said.
Kovach said she’ll be quarantining when she returns as a precaution and looks forward to holidays where COVID-19 is a thing of the past.