Earlier this month, we wrote about Governor Cuomo’s executive order requiring those who have spent more than 24 hours in a COVID-19 hot-spot or restricted state must quarantine for 14 days after traveling to New York. Yesterday, Governor Cuomo announced that four additional states meet the metrics to qualify for the travel advisory. Newly added are Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin. Of note, Delaware has been removed. The quarantine applies to any person arriving in New York from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a 7 day rolling average, or a state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average. Cuomo also announced that a travel enforcement operation has begun at airports across the state to help ensure travelers are following the state’s quarantine requirements. Currently on the list are the following states:
Alabama
Arkansas
Arizona
California
Florida
Georgia
Iowa
Idaho
Kansas
Louisiana
Minnesota
Mississippi
North Carolina
New Mexico
Nevada
Ohio
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Wisconsin
The restrictions do not apply to any individual passing through the designated states for a limited duration (less than 24 hours) through the course of travel. Examples of this include stopping at rest stops for vehicles, buses, and/or trains; or layovers for air travel, bus travel or train travel. As discussed in our earlier post, essential workers who live and work in New York State are exempt from the travel advisory.
However, essential workers traveling to New York State are subject to certain restrictions depending on the length of their stay. Employees traveling to New York for a period of 36 hours but requiring an overnight stay should monitor temperature and symptoms, wear face coverings in public, maintain social distance and clean and disinfect work places. They are required, to the extent possible, to avoid extended periods in public, contact with strangers and large gatherings.
For those workers traveling to New York State for a period of less than 12 hours, they should comply with the foregoing and stay in their vehicle or limit personal exposure by avoiding public spaces as much as possible.
Essential workers traveling to New York State for a period of longer than 36 hours requiring them to stay for several days should seek diagnostic testing as soon as possible upon arrival to ensure they are not positive for COVID-19, should monitor temperature and signs of symptoms, wear a face covering in public, maintain social distancing, clean and disinfect workspaces for a minimum of 14 days, and avoid extended periods in public, contact with strangers, and large gatherings for a period of, at least, 7 days.
If you have any questions, please contact us here or at 585-258-2800.
You can view more COVID-19-related posts in our COVID-19 Resource Area here.