Record hospitalizations and a surging death toll failed to keep Americans from traveling a day before the Thanksgiving holiday, raising fears that the unchecked spread under way is a prelude to further contagion at Christmastime.

Cancer deaths in the United States fell 2.2% from 2016 to 2017 – the largest single-year drop ever recorded – fueled in large part by progress against lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death, the American Cancer Society (ACS) reported.