Passengers flying to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut from 16 states with high rates of coronavirus will be asked quarantine for 14 days as New York Gov Andrew Cuomo says that travelers to his state will also be given a ‘voluntary health questionnaire’.
Last week, the tri-states agreed that visitors from Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Utah would need to quarantine upon flying into the tri-state area.
But due to increasing cases in an additional eight states, governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut announced that California, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada and Tennessee have all met the metrics to qualify for the travel advisory.
According to a statement from Gov Cuomo, the advisory will require individuals who have traveled to New York from those states, all of which have significant community spread, to quarantine for 14 days.
Passengers flying to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut from at least 16 states with high rates of coronavirus will be asked quarantine for 14 days as New York Gov Andrew Cuomo says that travelers to his state will also be given a ‘voluntary health questionnaire’ (pictured)
The quarantine applies to any person arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a seven-day rolling average or a state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a seven-day rolling average.
‘As an increasing number of states around the country fight significant community spread, New York is taking action to maintain the precarious safety of its phased, data-driven reopening,’ Cuomo said in a statement.
In an attempt to keep a count of who is traveling to New York from those states, the state’s Department of Health is asking airlines to distribute a questionnaire to passengers once they board their flights.
Health Department spokeswoman, Jill Montag, told USA Today, that the questionnaires are voluntary and ‘there are no penalties for passengers who don’t fill them out’.
‘As we have just starting collecting data, response rates are not available. People we have identified from the questionnaires as requiring quarantine will be contacted by Health Department staff and/or contact tracers for follow-up.’
Cuomo has warned that those out-of-state travelers could lead to a rise in infections in a state that’s seen a gradual decline in COVID-19 reported hospitalizations, fatalities and cases after it was once considered the epicenter for the virus.
Cuomo has warned that those out-of-state travelers (passengers pictured on Monday in New York) could lead to a rise in infections in a state that’s seen a gradual decline in COVID-19 reported hospitalizations, fatalities and cases
Individuals who violate a state or local quarantine or isolation order under the advisory can face a civil penalty of up to $10,000, according to Cuomo’s executive order
Nearly 900 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in hospitals in New York, according to the state Department of Health, and 13 individuals who had tested positive for COVID-19 died Monday in hospitals or nursing homes.
Just 1 per cent – or 524 – of 52,025 individuals tested for COVID-19 on Monday were positive, an amount that has shrunk even as the state has tested tens of thousands more people since the spring.
Individuals who violate a state or local quarantine or isolation order under the advisory can face a civil penalty of up to $10,000, according to Cuomo’s executive order.
With the addition of the eight states, that brings nearly 50 per cent of the nation’s population under a quarantine if they enter New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
New coronavirus infections across the United States almost doubled last week with 31 states reporting an uptick in cases.
COVID-19 cases across the US increased by 46 per cent in the week ending June 28, compared to the previous seven days, with the majority of rises in the West and South of the country.
Nationally, new cases have consistently spiked every week for four straight weeks. Daily cases have been increasing to record highs of 40,000 in the past week – well above the initial surge of infections that were seen back in mid-April.
Infections across the US have now surpassed 2.58 million and more than 126,000 Americans have died since the virus spread in March.
President Donald Trump has put the surge in new cases down to increased testing and has pointed to low death rates across the country as a sign that the pandemic is not out of control.
While part of the 46 per cent increase in cases in the past week can be attributed to a 9 percent expansion in testing over that time frame, public health experts are warning that the virus is now spreading too quickly to control.
Arizona, Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, Florida and Tennessee were the states that saw the largest increases in deaths in the past week.
In Arizona, deaths increased by 62 per cent after recording 249 new fatalities in a week, bringing the death toll to 1,588.
Health officials have warned, however, that the death rate could potentially shoot back up again because fatality rates often lag behind infection rates.
They also point to the current trend of young adults making up the majority of new cases.
Officials say people under 35 years old have been going to bars, parties and social events without masks, becoming infected and then spreading the disease to older, more vulnerable people.
In the past week, Florida, Louisiana, Idaho and Washington state have seen new infections more than double, according to a Reuters analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project.
In response to the new cases, Louisiana and Washington have temporarily halted the reopening of their economies, with Washington also mandating the wearing of face masks in public.
Florida ordered all bars to close on Friday and has shut down beaches ahead of the July 4 holiday weekend.
Infections across the US have now surpassed 2.58 million and more than 126,000 Americans have died since the virus spread in March
Arizona’s Republican governor Doug Ducey followed on Monday by ordering all bars, gyms, movie theaters and water parks to close for at least 30 days.
The state’s cases increased 29 per cent in the last week after reporting several record daily increases in cases.
Arizona health officials reported 4,682 more confirmed coronavirus cases on Monday – the most reported in a single day in the state so far and the eighth time in the past 10 days that daily cases surpassed the 3,000 mark.
Most Arizona bars and nightclubs opened after the governor’s stay-at-home and business closure orders were allowed to expire in mid-May.
Arizona is not alone in its reversal with Texas, Florida and California also backtracking, closing beaches and bars in most areas.