Cuomo replaces tough NY travel restrictions with COVID-19 testing mandate

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a new rule Saturday that will require people coming to New York to test negative for COVID-19 at least three days before arrival.

Once they reach the state, travelers must quarantine for three days and then retest on the fourth to ensure they are coronavirus-free, Cuomo added. 

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"There'll be no quarantine list, there'll be no metrics," Cuomo said during a press conference.

Travelers from 41 states in the country were previously required to self-quarantine for 14 days if traveling from a region deemed a coronavirus hotspot. But New York itself is now on the brink of the threshold for that classification: As of Thursday, the state reported 9.99 new cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day rolling period.

The threshold to be deemed a high-risk area for travel is 10 and some neighboring states have already topped that. Nonetheless, the border states of Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey will remain exempt from New York's restrictions because of the high frequency of interstate travel daily by workers.

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"It would disrupt everything if you quarantined those states," Cuomo said, strongly advising travelers to limit their visits to those areas. 

Travelers who return to New York in less than 24 hours will not need to take a test before coming back but will need one after a three-day self-quarantine period, the Democratic governor explained. 

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New York has the third-lowest positivity rate in the country but a recent uptick in cases has prompted state officials to remind people to wear a mask and continue to practice social-distancing when possible. 

On Thursday, the state saw its highest single-day total of new coronavirus cases since mid-May, reporting over 2,500 infections. A day later, the numbers rose again by 2,255.

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Hospitalizations are also on the rise, with more than 1,000 patients admitted on Friday for the eighth straight day in a row.