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Crowds of people were seen at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona on January 2 despite a rise in COVID-19 cases in the state.

The Arizona Department of Health Services reported 17,234 new coronavirus cases on January 3, bringing the state’s total to 556,384 cases. The bulk of Arizona’s cases have been reported in Maricopa County, where Phoenix Sky Harbor is located.

Twitter user @AmyAquarian, who said she was picking her daughter up from the airport, shared this footage of post-holiday travelers at Phoenix Sky Harbor on January 2.

Phoenix Sky Harbor said on Twitter while passengers numbers were down compared to last year, people traveling between December 28 and January 3 should arrive to the airport early due to long waits reported at security checkpoints.

“The health and safety of our travelers is a top priority,” Heather Shelbrack, the airport’s public information manager, told Storyful. “While it is a personal choice to travel, we continue to work to ensure that our facilities are clean by having a rigorous sanitation schedule in place as well as implementing a variety of initiatives such as UV-C LED lighting on many of our escalators which serves to sanitize the handrails.”

Shelbrack said “all travelers, airport employees and airport visitors” were required to wear facial coverings. “We have announcements playing in the terminals every few minutes and signs throughout the airport reminding passengers that they are required to wear masks and observe physical distancing guidelines,” added Shelbrack. Credit: @AmyAquarian via Storyful