The Memorial Day weekend brought cheer as the nation reported the lowest number of COVID-19 cases in over a year. It also saw the largest number of travelers as millions flew on the long weekend. According to data from Johns Hopkins University only 11,976 cases were reported on May 29, 2020. The numbers that were less were 11,238 that was reported more than a year ago on March 23, 2020. The seven-day average is also the lowest at 21,007. The last time a weekly average was below this number was more than a year ago on March 31, 2020, when the average was 19,363.

There is also some cheer for the airline industry as TSA said that more than 1.9 million flew across the country for the long weekend. Last time, around this time, there were only 327,000 travelers at its checkpoints.

Over a year ago, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic. On that day, the U.S. reported that 1,147 people had been infected on that day. However, the   numbers soon rose. Over 33 million cases have been reported since and there have been almost 600,000 fatalities.

After the declaration of the pandemic by the WHO, daily TSA travel numbers fell drastically, within a week from 1.7 million to 620,000. Within two weeks by March 25, the number fell much lower and was at 203,000. The daily numbers have crossed a million, from March 11, 2021, exactly a year after the declaration of the pandemic.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said that more than 60 percent of the nation’s population has taken at least one dose of the vaccination. About 40.5 percent of the adults have been fully vaccinated. President Biden wants 70 percent of the population to take at least one dose by July 4 and he and his administration, along with celebrities, health personal, corporates and other well-wishers have been putting in tremendous efforts to achieve this goal, for life to return to normal.