California added to travel advisory, Massachusetts meets criteria

ALBANY, N.Y. (WROC) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that California was added to the coronavirus travel advisory, which requires incoming travelers from areas of high infection rates to self-quarantine for two weeks upon arrival.

The tri-state travel advisory is a joint effort between New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, as part of a coordinated regional effort to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

Massachusetts has reached the criteria for the advisory, but state officials say enforcing restrctions on neighboring states isn’t “viable.” A similar decision transpired last week when New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania met the criteria.

Meanwhile, state officials say they “highly discourage, to the extent practical, non-essential travel” between New York and the four aforementioned neighboring states.

So while 45 total states and territories meet the criteria for the travel advisory, only 41 areas require incoming travelers to quarantine. The full updated travel advisory:

1. Alabama
2. Alaska
3. Arizona
4. Arkansas
5. California
6. Colorado
7. Delaware
8. Florida
9. Georgia
10. Guam
11. Idaho
12. Illinois
13. Indiana
14. Iowa
15. Kansas
16. Kentucky
17. Louisiana
18. Maryland
19. Michigan
20. Minnesota
21. Mississippi
22. Missouri
23. Montana
24. Nebraska
25. Nevada
26. New Mexico
27. North Carolina
28. North Dakota
29. Ohio
30. Oklahoma
31. Puerto Rico
32. Rhode Island
33. South Carolina
34. South Dakota
35. Tennessee
36. Texas
37. Utah
38. Virginia
39. West Virginia
40. Wisconsin
41. Wyoming

Non-essential travel is discouraged to:

1. Connecticut
2. Massachusetts
3. New Jersey
4. Pennsylvania

The travel advisory quarantine applies to any person that arrives 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.

“We know COVID is spreading at increased rates in other states and New York state is not in a hermetically sealed bubble. The numbers are a reminder that COVID is still here and continues to spread in communities across the state, particularly when people choose not to follow the safety protocols in place to control the virus. We continue to see outbreaks linked to mass gatherings at houses of worship, at weddings and funerals, and other events where the virus can quickly spread,” Cuomo said in a press release. “Now, 45 states and territories meet the requirements for our travel advisory. We cannot let our guard down and risk going backwards in New York. It’s going to take the work of all of us to remain vigilant.”

People caught violating the advisory risk civil penalties ranging from $2,000 to $10,000, Cuomo said earlier this summer. There are exceptions to the quarantine travel advisory rules: Essential workers are exempt and stays of less than 24 hours in an area wouldn’t constitute enforcement.

Tuesday’s coronavirus data is summarized briefly below:  

• Patient Hospitalization – 1,083 (+24)
• Patients Newly Admitted – 110
• Hospital Counties – 47
• Number ICU – 233 (-4)
• Number ICU with Intubation – 120 (+2) 
• Total Discharges – 79,230 (+68)
• Deaths – 15 
• Total Deaths – 25,758

The governor’s office says that the positive testing rate in the hotspot clusters was 3.65%, while areas outside the hotspot clusters saw a positive testing rate of 1.53%.

Overall, the state conducted 111,618 tests Monday, with 1,991 new positive cases, for an overall positive test rate of 1.78% statewide.

Each region’s percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows:  

REGION	SATURDAY	SUNDAY	MONDAY
Capital Region	0.8%	1.5%	1.3%
Central New York	1.2%	1.4%	2.2%
Finger Lakes	1.7%	2.3%	1.7%
Long Island	1.3%	1.2%	1.6%
Mid-Hudson	1.9%	2.4%	2.2%
Mohawk Valley	0.6%	0.7%	1.1%
New York City	1.4%	1.4%	1.7%
North Country	1.5%	1.4%	0.9%
Southern Tier	1.3%	1.0%	2.0%
Western New York	1.3%	1.3%	2.6%