NY: New Coronavirus Quarantine Order For Some Travelers

NEW YORK, NY — New York, New Jersey and Connecticut on Wednesday issued a joint travel advisory for travelers from states with high coronavirus infection rates.

Travelers arriving from states that have a positive coronavirus test rate higher than 10 percent per 100,000 residents or states with a 10 percent or higher positive rate over a seven-day rolling average must quarantine for 14 days, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference Wednesday. Those states currently includes Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North and South Carolina, Utah and Texas.

"It's just common sense," Cuomo said.

Each state will be responsible for enforcing the quarantine. The advisory goes into effect at midnight Wednesday. Violators could face fines and the order applies to people who travel to one of those states from New York and return, Cuomo said.

Additionally, five regions will enter phase four of reopening businesses Friday: North Country, Finger Lakes, Central New York, Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley. Cuomo said he will allow indoor religious gatherings to increase occupancy to 33 percent from 25 percent.

The news comes as New York saw just 1.1 percent of COVID-19 tests came back positive in the last 24 hours.

"Right now all the numbers look good," Cuomo said.

The number of people who died from the disease remained steady at 17 over the last 24 hours.