TAMPA, Fla (WFLA) – The rush of holiday travel is kicking into high gear as the omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to spread across the United States.

AAA is predicting more than 100 million people will take to the road, sky, or other form of transportation for the Christmas holiday, which is up more than 30% from last year. In Florida, nearly 6 million will travel between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2 for the holiday, an increase of more than 35% from last year.

All of this comes as the new omicron variant is in more than three dozen states, including Florida, and the case numbers continue to rise across the U.S.

The CDC predicts an alarming spike in COVID infections is on the horizon, with cases of the omicron variant doubling every three days or so in this country.

“It is the most transmissible virus of COVID that we have to deal with thus far,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical advisor.

In Florida, the Department of Health reported nearly 29,000 new positive COVID cases in their recent report released on Friday, Dec. 17. That brings that state’s positivity rate to 5.4% which is up from 2.6% from the previous week.