Domestic travelers visiting New York State will no longer be required to quarantine upon arrival beginning April 1, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced on Thursday.
Travelers hailing from U.S. states or territories will still be required to fill out a Travel Health form upon arrival, and the New York State Department of Health will still recommend domestic travelers to quarantine. However, the quarantine will only be mandatory for international travelers.
“New Yorkers have shown strength and perseverance throughout this entire pandemic, and it shows through the numbers that continue to decrease every day,” Cuomo released in a statement, assessing that the state is making “significant progress in 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.”
“As part of that transition, quarantine for domestic travelers is no longer required, but it is still being advised as an added precaution,” the embattled governor, who continues to dueling scandals, continued.
Cuomo emphasized that New Yorkers must continue to wear masks and practice social distancing.
New York has had some of the strictest coronavirus restrictions in the country over the course of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic. Last summer, Cuomo warned that out-of-state drivers could be pulled over by police if they hailed from states with high levels of the virus.
“You’re stopped by a police officer who says, ‘You’re driving a car from Florida. Weren’t you supposed to be on quarantine for 14 days?’” he said at the time.
“You violate the quarantine, you will then have to do mandatory quarantine and you will be fined,” he warned in June.
The establishment media praised Cuomo for his response to the pandemic last year while offering continual criticism of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), particularly after he refused to impose a statewide mask mandate and subsequently opened his state.
While New York has continued to embrace strict restrictions and mandatory quarantines, Florida continues to fare better in terms of recent new cases per capita.
In the last seven days, Florida has reported 157.9 cases per 100,000, or 33,909 cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) March 10 data.
The CDC splits New York City’s data from the rest of the state. Even so, New York State, excluding the city, has reported 211.5 cases per 100,000 in the last seven days, or 23,376 cases. New York City has reported 316.9 cases per 100,000 in the last seven days, or 26,614 cases by number. Combined, New York has reported over 16,000 more new cases than Florida in the last seven days.
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