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New York Will Require Two COVID-19 Test for Most Travelers and Returning Residents, to avoid New York's mandatory 14-day quarantine. The new testing requirements, which go into effect November 4, 2020, will supersede the state's previous quarantine list, which included most U.S. states.
Governor Cuomo announced that visitors and returning residents alike who have been outside New York state more than 24 hours will be required to take a pre-travel COVID test within the 72 hours prior to travel and obtain a negative result, and quarantine in New York for 3 days before taking another COVID-19 test on day 4. If the results from that second test are also negative, the traveler or returning resident is released from quarantine; otherwise, if no test is taken, the traveler or returning resident remains subject to the 14 day quarantine, even if the pre-travel test was negative.
Returning residents who were outside New York state for less than 24 hours do not need to take a pre-travel test, and don't need to quarantine upon return, but ARE required to take the Day 4 COVID-19 test, and would need to self-isolate if the test comes back positive.
All travelers must continue to complete the New York Health Form.
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Exceptions
Commuters from states that are contiguous with New York (Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Massachusetts) are exempt, due to the impracticality the new testing requirement would impose on those who work in New York but live in an adjacent state.
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The Upshot
As coronavirus cases rise across the U.S., including in New York, stricter testing regimes such as New York's may be inconvenient, but make sense for states with low COVID-19 prevalence. New York at time of writing is 3rd in the U.S., at 1.49% test positivity, behind Maine (0.97% positivity) and Vermont (0.53% positivity).
Bermuda, which we were recently in, requires a similar pre-travel COVID test, a COVID test on arrival at the airport, and a COVID test on Day 4 (as well as Day 8 and Day 14, if still on the island). As a result of the significant testing and strict mask mandate, Bermuda has fewer COVID cases than most places of similar size, even though it continues to welcome many visitors.
The issue New York will have is enforcing its testing requirement, since the state isn't an island and even many arrivals at New York airports slip through the cracks and don't complete the New York State Health form.
Will New York's new testing requirement affect your travel plans into (or for residents) out of New York?
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