but long-term hurt as more and more people are infected and we extend the life of the pandemic. reporter: ted and leta burr came to florida for a seven-day vacation in the keys they ve spent five more days trying to get home your first flight was canceled because of? covid. this one delayed because of weather. i ve got chemo at 7:00 a.m. monday. so you need to get home. and it don t look like we re going to make it. reporter: traveling with five kids, especially trying with cancelations the mehlman family was to leave friday, fort lauderdale to denver, on spirit airlines after a maddening four-hour wait to talk to the airline, they rented a car, drove four hours to stay with relatives in orlando. hopefully they ll get out tonight. you can laugh or cry. in the worlds of marjorie p. hinckley, crying gives me a headache. reporter: weather making matters worse 42 million people under winter alerts. in kentucky, severe flooding leaving to