Airlines have loudly insisted that it’s safe to fly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and U.S. travel is surging before the Thanksgiving holiday despite a nationwide rise in virus cases.

Yet top U.S. infectious disease experts say the findings underpinning the carriers’ safety claims aren’t that conclusive.

Concerned about the "misinterpretation” of their findings, researchers on a Defense Department study that has been widely cited by the industry have added a cautionary revision.