Travel on W.Va. Turnpike during Easter weekend highest total since August 2019

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — If numbers from the West Virginia Turnpike are any indication, Americans hit the road during a pandemic last week with best travel numbers since August 2019.

Easter travel jumped more than 3% over last year.

Numbers out Easter Monday showed travel on the West Virginia Turnpike jumped 3.35% last week compared to 2020. State officials said there were 767,321 transactions on the Turnpike during the holiday period from March 28 to April 3. The second Easter under pandemic conditions was, according to state officials, the biggest week of travel on the Turnpike since August 2019.

It's not clear how much a last-minute green light from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention helped, saying that vaccinated Americans could safely add travel to their activities without getting a COVID-19 test or going into quarantine.

Eyewitness News spoke with an Ohio traveler who hunkered down at home for Easter 2020 but hit the road this year.

“Yeah, everybody is feeling more optimistic,” said Ursula Miller, who was returning from North Carolina to Ohio. “I mean time has passed. The vaccines have been put in place. I think it’ just a matter of time now and things are getting better so, yeah, we're happy. "

If the Turnpike numbers are any indication, West Virginia and America are back on the road, pandemic or not. The COVID consequences of that will take a while to surface.

The CDC said vaccinated people should still wear a mask and socially distance when traveling. This vacation season unvaccinated people are still advised to avoid unnecessary travel, and to get tested before and after if they do.

Dr. Clay Marsh, West Virginia’s coronavirus czar, said the key again is “to wear your mask and stay physically distanced and wash your hands. But today the important other thing that is really critically important, crucially important that every West Virginian, we hope, that has that opportunity to be vaccinated will chose to do so.”

There is concern that more easily spread variants of the virus will be an Easter break souvenir for some who hit the road.

Air travel hit a pandemic record even before the holiday period ended.