Monica Neal of Smyrna, Ga., took a trip to South Africa on Thanksgiving, but she said she ended up getting stuck there for days because of the Omicron variant. She canceled a trip to Europe this month.
“I have traveled internationally twice this year, and I’ve fortunately been very safe and very healthy,” she said. “I didn’t want to push that luck.”
Many others said they had no plans to adjust. Blake Howe, a software engineer in Roswell, Ga., said he was going on a cruise in January for his 30th birthday. He planned the trip months ago and received his shots and the booster.
Mr. Howe said he knew that cruise liners had been breeding grounds for Covid-19 in the past, but he’s not concerned this time. “They’re requiring full vaccination, as well as the booster,” he said, adding that “they’re at reduced capacity on the ship.”
Some who were interviewed weren’t planning to travel anywhere — and were happy to stay put.
“I wouldn’t want to go anywhere right now,” said Monica Rokes, a 69-year-old retired bank teller in Camden, Maine, who was shopping in the town of Rockland. She said she had started taking more precautions in recent days — washing her hands more often, using hand sanitizer, avoiding large crowds and groups of people, and wearing her mask.
“It’s very frightening,” she said of the recent surge. “I’m doing everything I can do to stay safe.”
For those planning to attend large gatherings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still recommending that everyone get vaccinated before getting together with multiple generations of the same family. For indoor gatherings, the C.D.C. is asking people to consider taking an at-home rapid test beforehand.
