Starting November 4th, New Yorkers wishing to venture outside the Empire State have some additional travel options. Until now, with only a few exceptions, those who visited states deemed “high risk” for COVID-19 had to quarantine for a period of 14-days upon their return back home to New York. What’s changing is that now, you can visit any state in the Union – even those warm Sun Belt states – and limit your quarantine period to as few as four days if you:
1) get a negative test result within 72-hours before coming home;
2) quarantine for 3-days; and
3) get another negative test result on the 4th day.
So that trip to see family and friends for the holidays that might have previously been out of the question for some New Yorkers because of the 14-day quarantine period may now be more within the realm of possibility. Less time in quarantine means less time away from work and other daily obligations that aren’t so quarantine friendly, which just might justify a week in say, sunny Florida enjoying the beach as the days here in the Northeast get shorter and the temps dip lower.
The changed rules, announced by New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo, come at a time when more data is emerging that, contrary to what one might assume, air travel presents an extremely low risk of COVID-19 transmission. This is due to several factors, including how air makes its way through an aircraft cabin, how air is filtered and exchanged, and how an aircraft itself is physically configured so that everyone is seated facing forward toward the natural barrier of a seat back and not facing one another, as might be the case on a train.
New Yorkers visiting states that share a border with their home state are not subject to travel restrictions. The states that share a border with New York are Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont.
For additional details on the new requirements, you can read the official New York State published Guidance at https://coronavirus.health.ny.
For more information on the risk of COVID-19 transmission aboard an aircraft, you can check out https://www.iata.org/en/
