Cuomo Replaces Travelers 14-Day Quarantine with 3-Day Isolation & Testing

By: Ilana Siyance

On Saturday, Governor Andrew Cuomo replaced the stringent Tristate travel law restrictions. Previously, travelers from 41 other states in the U.S. were required to self-quarantine for 14 before entry. As reported by ABC News, now, however, being that New York itself is coming close to being classified as a Covid-19 hotspot once again, the rule has been rescinded. The new rule states that travelers can now get tested and show proof of the negative results, enter the state, quarantine for three days and then retest on the fourth to ensure they are coronavirus-free, foregoing the 14 day quarantine.

“There will be no quarantine list, there will be no metrics,” Cuomo said. “If you are coming into New York within three days you must have tested negative. Once you arrive in New York, you must quarantine for three days and can take a test on the fourth day.” On the fourth day, if the results are negative the visitor will be out of quarantine, but positive results will mean the visitor must continue to quarantine, Cuomo said. Residents visiting from the neighboring Tri-state area including New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania will be exempt from these requirements. “It would disrupt everything if you quarantined those states,” Cuomo said, still he strongly advised travelers to limit their visits to those areas as well.

The governor also updated the rules for New Yorkers traveling outside of the state. He said that New York residents can travel to another state for 24 hours or less, come back and take a test within four days upon arrival. Alternatively, New York residents, and all entrants who stay in another state for a longer period, must get tested within three days before getting on a plane into NY, and test negative.

The traveler must still quarantine in New York for three days, and retest on the fourth day. At that point a negative result would allow “you go about your business”, Cuomo said.

The updated laws come as NYS sees a spike in its own cases of Coronavirus. As of Thursday, the state reported 9.99 new cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day rolling time period. There were 2,049 reported positive COVID cases in the state, emanating from 136,962 reported tests. These results on Friday, brought the governor to declare the state positivity rate of 1.49%. “That’s good news. That’s very good news,” Cuomo said. “New York is the third lowest positivity rate in the nation, according to Johns Hopkins. Third to Maine and Vermont.”