Denver Mayor Michael Hancock boarded a flight to Houston ahead of Thanksgiving despite his advisements that people stay close to home and only spend the holiday with their own household if they can.

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His spokeswoman confirmed that Hancock was traveling to Houston Wednesday to visit his daughter in Mississippi, and that his wife is already there.

About 30 minutes before the flight, Hancock’s account tweeted out to “avoid travel, if you can” in order to slow the spread of COVID-19.

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“As he has shared, the Mayor is not hosting his traditional large family dinner this year, but instead traveling alone to join his wife and daughter where the three of them will celebrate Thanksgiving at her residence instead of having them travel back to Denver,” a statement from the mayor’s spokesperson reads. “Upon return, he will follow all necessary health and safety guidance and quarantine.”

According to an email obtained by 9NEWS, Hancock’s assistant said the mayor would be out of office from Wednesday to Friday.

In an email to city staff on Nov. 18, Hancock wrote, “as the holidays approach, we all long to be with our families with person, but with the continued rise in cases, I’m urging you to refrain from travel this Thanksgiving holiday. For my family that means cancelling our traditional gathering of our extended family.”

In the email, Hancock also said anyone who travels out of state should quarantine for 14 days and that employees who can’t work from home will need to use their paid time off for the leave.

Gov. Jared Polis said Tuesday that one in 41 Coloradans is currently infectious with COVID-19, the highest level since the pandemic began.

During a news conference on Wednesday, Polis said he was not aware Hancock intended to travel for Thanksgiving. The two leaders had both attended news conferences imploring people to practice social distancing.

“I have not had any conversations with the mayor about his Thanksgiving plans and was not aware of them,” Polis said.

Polis said he will spend Thanksgiving with just his partner and their kids, and that he hasn’t seen his parents in months.

“Not only do I want to set the example as governor, of course, but frankly this is what we do because we love our family,” Polis said. “My parents are 76, I want them to be here for 20 more years.”

According to the Denver Public Health COVID-19 monitoring dashboard, the seven-day moving average of new cases in the county is 688.

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As of Wednesday, there have been 33,971 total cases of the novel coronavirus in Denver and 494 deaths.

Find updates from our partners at 9News.