Travelers to New York from other U.S. states will no longer be required to quarantine starting April 1, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in March. Cuomo, who has been easing coronavirus restrictions, said the two-week quarantine for domestic travelers will be recommended but no longer mandated. International travelers will still be required to quarantine, he said.
The governor said that New York is “winning the footrace between the infection rate and the vaccination rate, allowing us to open new sectors of our economy and start our transition to a new normal in a post-pandemic world.”
NYYC Mayor Bill de Blasio complained that city officials were not consulted and questioned its wisdom. Dr. Jay Varma, senior health adviser to the mayor, said the city is still “at a very tenuous point,” despite rising vaccination levels because highly transmissible variants of the coronavirus now account for more than half of new infections. “So, we do feel really strongly that it’s important for us to be as cautious as we possibly can, and we know that one of the ways to help reduce infection is to limit the amount of travel that’s going in and out of the city.”
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, there were about 522 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in New York state in the first two weeks of March, which ranks second in the country for new cases per capita. City and state officials have pointed to declining rates of hospitalization for COVID-19, however, as a sign of progress. Cuomo said the 4,735 people hospitalized statewide on March 10 was the lowest number since Dec. 6. He added that New Yorkers “should wear masks, wash their hands and stay socially distanced to slow the spread and save lives as we work to defeat the COVID beast together.”
Source: Crain’s New York Business
