The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday issued some warnings to Americans as the holidays approach: don't travel but if you have to, get tested.

CDC added in its warnings that if people do end up travelling for the holidays, they should take a coronavirus test one to three days before travel and three to five days afterward.

CDC COVID-19 incident manager Henry Walke said that the best way to stay safe and protect others during the holidays was to stay home.

The warnings came as cases, hospitalizations and deaths due to the coronavirus had been on an upward trend.

Health officials were worried that family gatherings during the holidays might ultimately lead to spread more COVID-19 cases across the country, according to a report from The Hill.

The CDC also added some new guidelines on the quarantine period after close contact, moving from a 14-day period to a maximum of 10 days.

The agency said there is only a small risk of shortening the quarantine period, but makes compliance easier for most Americans.

This change was based on new knowledge about the virus' incubation period and extensive modeling by the CDC.

CDC Director Warns of 'Difficult' Winter

There have been prior projections that COVID-19 cases will go up by winter.

CDC Director Robert Redfield himself warned that this period during the pandemic may be the "most difficult time in the public health history" of the country.

The COVID Tracking Project reported that American hospitals have surpassed 100,000 COVID-19 patients for the first time. That number was twice the number of patients springs, during the virus' first deadly wave.

In addition to this, deaths in the country caused by the virus have also risen fast, with more than 270,000 in the country thus far.

"Any thinking person has to be worried," Philip Landrigan, the director of a global public health program at Boston College, told New York Times.

Landrigan added that with the volume of hospitalizations in the country today, it can be said that "we have done a very poor job of controlling this pandemic."

CDC Travel Advice for Thanksgiving Ignored by Americans

There was a similar travel guidance issued by the CDC during the Thanksgiving holiday.

At the time, the agency warned that postponing travel plans would be the best route for many people.

However, the advice fell on deaf ears as many Americans chose to ignore these warnings. Virus cases kept on surging as many still opted to move about across Thanksgiving dinners.

Walke said these travel-related increases will likely be apparent by about a week to 10 days after Thanksgiving, reported The Associated Press.

Walke also urged the country to "try to bend the curve" and "stop this exponential increase."

Dr. Cindy Friedman, another CDC official said even if only a small number of people were infected from these travel arrangements, their infection could lead to "hundreds of thousands of new infections."

"Travel is a door-to-door experience that can spread virus during the journey and also into communities that travelers visit or live," she added.