Suzette Cook
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on June 24th that visitors from nine states will have to self-quarantine for 14 days if they visit New York.
“I am announcing with Governor Phil Murphy and Office of Governor Ned Lamont a joint travel advisory.,” Gov. Cuomo said. “All individuals traveling from states with significant community spread of COVID into NY, NJ or CT must self-quarantine for 14 days.
“This travel advisory is effective midnight tonight (June 24th),” he said.
The rule applies to travelers arriving from “states that have a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents or a state with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average.”
As of June 24th, that list includes Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Utah, Texas and Washington.
The Florida Department of Health added 5,511 new cases to the Florida COVID-19 Dashboard on June 23rd, bringing the total positive test count to 109,014 cases.
The positivity rate for the last 5,511 cases in Florida is 15.91 percent.
Two months ago, it was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issuing a 14-day quarantine for travelers visiting Florida from New York.
News reports are starting to list Florida as the next epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic and while more than a dozen counties in Florida have deemed face masks a requirement, DeSantis recommends the use of face coverings and adherence to CDC guidelines but has not issued them mandatory in his emergency order.
“There were no states handed a worse hand than our state,” Cuomo said.
“We had some of the highest infection rates because we had people coming from Europe who brought the virus,” Cuomo said. “We had a federal government telling us that it was in China,” Cuomo added, saying the virus spread from China to Europe and then to the U.S.
“Three million came into our region of the country,” Cuomo said about visitors from Europe starting January through March. “And they brought the virus. By the time we found out we had viral spread through the community.”
“You look at where we are now, we did a full 180-degrees,” Cuomo said. “We went from the highest cases, the highest viral transmission rate to some of the lowest rates in the country.”
Cuomo said what keeps him up at night is keeping the rate of cases continuing to drop.
“We also need to make sure the virus doesn’t come in on a plane,” he said. “Learned that lesson. Been there, done that.”
He then formally announced the joint quarantine that applies to travelers headed to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
“It’s only for the simple reason that we worked hard to get the viral transmission rate down and we don’t want to see it go up.
“We are jointly instituting that travel advisory today because what happens in New York, happens in New Jersey, happens in Connecticut.”