Some good news for those traveling to and from New York amid the coronavirus pandemic: Five states have been removed from the state's travel quarantine list.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Tuesday morning that Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Maryland and Montana have been removed from the list of areas which requires travelers to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in New York.
Guam has been added to the list of quarantined areas, which includes 28 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
See complete lists of states on both lists at the bottom of this post.
The five states were removed from the quarantine list due to falling rates of people who tested positive for Covid-19. Delaware and Alaska were removed one week after being added; both states have been on the list multiple times due to fluctuating rates.
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The travel advisory, jointly conducted by New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, applies to states which have significant community spread. The metrics New York State uses to define that are a rate of 10% or higher of people testing positive for Covid-19 over a seven-day average, or a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a seven-day average.
New York's positive test rate, meanwhile, was under 1% for the 18th straight day, according to the state.
"New Yorkers made enormous sacrifices to get our numbers as low as they are today, and we don't want to give up an inch of that hard-earned progress," said Cuomo. "That's why these travel advisory precautions are so important – we don't want people who travel to states with high community spread to bring the virus back here.
"While it's good news that five states have been removed from the travel advisory, the list remains far too long as America continues to struggle with COVID-19. New Yorkers should stay vigilant and be careful — wear a mask, socially distance, and be smart. This pandemic is not over."
• Residents of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut can now travel to and from the following 20 areas:
Maine
New Hampshire
Vermont
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Pennsylvania
Delaware
Maryland
Washington, D.C.
West Virginia
Ohio
Michigan
Colorado
New Mexico
Arizona
Wyoming
Montana
Oregon
Washington state
Alaska
• The areas on the travel quarantine list of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are:
Alabama
Arkansas
California
Florida
Georgia
Guam
Hawaii
Iowa
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Minnesota
Missouri
Mississippi
North Carolina
North Dakota
Nebraska
Nevada
Oklahoma
Puerto Rico
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Virgin Islands
Wisconsin
Read the full story from News Staff Reporters Caitlin Dewey and Thomas Prohaska.
