Cuomo Ditches Quarantine List for Sweeping NY Entry Test Policy – NBC New York

New York’s quarantine list, which had most recently restricted travel from 41 U.S. hotspots, is no more. Instead, Gov. Andrew Cuomo says travelers coming into the state must take a coronavirus test before starting travel and again four days after entering the state.

As described by the governor, there are two classifications of travelers entering New York: residents who traveled outside the state for less than 24 hours, and everyone else. Both kinds of travelers entering New York must now quarantine for at least a 3-day period before taking a coronavirus test. As long as the test comes back negative, the governor says, the quarantine period can end.

New Yorkers returning from travel under 24 hours outside the state do not need to take a test before coming back, but must still take a test after re-entering. Everyone else, in the general categorization, must take a test before traveling to New York, Cuomo said. Within three days of traveling to the state, people must take a test before commuting via plane or other mode of travel.

Anyone opting not to take a test four days after arrival must still complete a 14-day quarantine period.

“They’ll be no quarantine list, they’ll be no metrics,” Cuomo said on his daily press briefing Saturday.

New York’s quarantine list required travelers to the tri-state area from U.S. hotspots to self-isolate for 14 days before roaming freely in the region. It also required residents of the tri-state area to self-isolate after returning home from an identified hotspot.

The newest testing mandate for people entering the state does not apply to neighboring New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts due to regional proximity. While acknowledging rising virus positivity in nearby states, Cuomo said there is too much daily travel across their borders to regulate.

“It would disrupt everything if you quarantined those states,” he added.

Cuomo continues to urge New Yorkers, to the extent they can, to avoid nonessential travel between those nearby states for as long as they meet the quarantine threshold. Govs. Phil Murphy and Ned Lamont have issued similar pleas to the people of New Jersey and Connecticut in recent weeks.

The state’s shift in policy comes as New York teetered on the edge of meeting its own standards for the tri-state quarantine list, reporting 9.99 new cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day rolling period as of Thursday. The threshold is 10, which the neighboring states of Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Jersey have already topped.

That metric is driven by high numbers in the Southern Tier (25.07 per 100,000) and Mid-Hudson (12.74 per 100,000) regions. Long Island’s rate of new cases per 100,000 residents (9.39) over the last week is lower than the statewide average and New York City’s is even lower (9.12), even as its mayor…