ALBANY — Visitors from Hawaii, South Dakota and the US Virgin Islands coming into New York will have to quarantine for two weeks, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the additions to his travel advisory on Tuesday.
Alaska, New Mexico, Ohio and Rhode Island were removed from the growing list that now includes 33 states plus Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Travelers who fly into New York airports are required to fill out a form detailing where they have been, while also agreeing to conduct a 14-day voluntary quarantine — or face fines of up to $2,000.
“Our numbers continue to remain low and steady, which shows this virus will respond to an approach based on science, not politics,” Cuomo said in a statement.
“In order to protect this progress, we must keep up our efforts — we cannot go back to the hell we experienced a few months ago, which is why we are adding Hawaii, South Dakota and Virgin Islands to the travel advisory.”
States are added to the quarantine list if their virus data shows a positive coronavirus test rate higher than 10 per 10,000 residents over a seven-day rolling average, or a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over the same time frame.
The complete list of states includes: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virgin Islands, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Visitors from these locations will also have to quarantine in New Jersey and Connecticut.
Meanwhile the Empire State tracked a COVID-19 infection rate of less than 1 percent — at .86 percent — or 667 positive cases out of just over 77,000 tests conducted.
New York City was slightly higher, but still boasted a consistent .9 percent average over the last three days.
Six New Yorkers died of the virus as of midnight, with 540 patients hospitalized and 60 intubated and in the ICU, according to data from the state Health Department.