Risk Management Approach To NY's New COVID-19 Quarantine Rules

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — New statewide rules for COVID-19 isolation and quarantine take a risk-management approach based on vaccination.

Anyone who is not up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations must quarantine for 5 days after close contact with someone with COVID-19, according to New York Health Department guidance.

That includes:

• Anyone who is not vaccinated or has not completed a primary vaccine series.
• Anyone aged 5 or older who has completed the primary series of recommended vaccine, and is eligible for a CDC recommended booster shot, but has not received it. You are eligible 5 months after your primary series.
• Anyone aged 50 years and older or immunocompromised, for whom a second booster is recommended and is needed to stay up to date. You are eligible 4 months after your first booster.

"If you are not up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines, you must follow the updated NYS Quarantine Guidance if you have been exposed to COVID-19," County Health Commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert said Friday in an announcement about the rules. "Everyone's cooperation with the guidance is needed to curb the spread of the disease and prevent further disability and death among our neighbors."

Under the updated guidance, you are considered up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines when you have received all doses in the primary series and all boosters recommended for your age and health status.

The purpose of this new guidance is to keep people healthy, since the state continues to experience cases, health officials said. The new rules came as New York officials reported that statewide COVID-19 hospital admissions were down nearly 20 percent last week over the previous seven days.

In the Hudson Valley, coronavirus community-level transmission is currently rated medium to high by the Centers for Disease Control:

• Orange County - high
• Putnam - high
• Westchester - high
• Dutchess - medium
• Rockland - medium
• Ulster - medium

Where transmission levels are high, the CDC recommends:

• Wear a mask indoors in public
• Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines
• Get tested if you have symptoms

The rates of full vaccination in the Hudson Valley vary by age group:

Vaccine booster rates in the Hudson Valley as of June 3:

If you have tested positive for COVID-19, you must follow the NYS Isolation Guidance. There is an exemption related to quarantine and isolation for children's attendance in childcare and school programs (K-12) and early childhood education settings. You do not need to quarantine if you have had a confirmed COVID-19 in the last 90 days.