A ‘Smarter’ Quarantine Could Be Heading To NY, Cuomo Says

NEW YORK CITY — Big changes could be coming to New York’s coronavirus quarantine list now that neighboring states qualify for the travel advisory.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday repeated that newfound COVID-19 hotspots New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania will remain off the list.

Too many people and businesses travel between those states and New York on daily basis to effectively close the Empire State’s border, he said.

“There is no practical way to quarantine New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania,” he said.

Instead, officials are working with “global experts” to hash out a different approach to the quarantine, Cuomo said.

The quarantine rules currently require travelers from 40 states and territories with high rates of coronavirus spread to quarantine for 14 days upon arriving in New York.

Cuomo said enforcing the quarantine previously came down to airports — a traveler from Arizona, for instance, would be informed of the rule on the plane and told to fill out contact information before presumably quarantining.

But such enforcement, while imperfect, doesn’t work when travelers come from states on New York’s doorstep, Cuomo said.

“Is there a better, smarter way to handle a quarantine?” he said.

This “smarter” quarantine could take advantage of new technologies such as rapid coronavirus tests, Cuomo said.

New York’s positivity rate ranks at third from the bottom of all states, officials said. But its current 1.62 percent rate is still the highest point in months.