Arizona and Maryland added to Travel Advisory; non-essential interstate travel between Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania discouraged

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that Arizona and Maryland have been added to New York’s COVID-19 travel advisory. No areas have been removed. The advisory requires individuals who have traveled to New York from areas with significant community spread to quarantine for 14 days. The quarantine applies to any person arriving from an area with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a 7-day rolling average or an area with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average. 

 

Neighboring states Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania now meet the criteria for the travel advisory – however, given the interconnected nature of the region and mode of transport between us, a quarantine on these states is not practically viable. That said, New York State highly discourages, to the extent practical, non-essential travel to and from these states while they meet the travel advisory criteria.

 

“We are now in a situation where 43 states meet the criteria for our travel advisory. This is really a bizarre outcome, considering New York once had the highest infection rate,” Governor Cuomo said. “There is no practical way to quarantine New York from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut. There are just too many interchanges, interconnections, and people who live in one place and work in the other. It would have a disastrous effect on the economy, and remember while we’re fighting this public health pandemic we’re also fighting to open up the economy. However, to the extent travel between the states is not essential, it should be avoided.” 

 

The full, updated travel advisory list is available below:  

• Alaska 
• Alabama 
• Arkansas 
• Arizona 
• Colorado 
• Delaware 
• Florida 
• Georgia 
• Guam 
• Iowa 
• Idaho 
• Illinois 
• Indiana 
• Kansas 
• Kentucky 
• Louisiana 
• Maryland 
• Michigan 
• Minnesota 
• Missouri 
• Mississippi 
• Montana 
• North Carolina 
• North Dakota 
• Nebraska 
• New Mexico 
• Nevada 
• Ohio 
• Oklahoma 
• Puerto Rico 
• Rhode Island 
• South Carolina 
• South Dakota 
• Tennessee 
• Texas 
• Utah 
• Virginia 
• Wisconsin 
• West Virginia 
• Wyoming 

    

In “Red Zone” focus areas included as part of the Governor’s Cluster Action Initiative, the positivity rate for test results reported yesterday is 2.91 percent – down from 3.31 percent the day before. 

  

Within the “Red Zone” focus areas, 3,955 test results were reported yesterday, yielding 115 positives or a 2.91 percent positivity rate. In the remainder of the state, not counting these “Red Zone” focus areas, 86,585 test results were reported, yielding 1,086 positives or a 1.25 percent positivity rate. The state’s overall positivity rate is 1.32 percent with focus areas included. The “Red Zone” focus areas are home to 2.8 percent of the state population yet had 9.6 percent of all positive test results reported to the state yesterday. 

  

FOCUS ZONE	9/27-10/3 % Positive	10/4- 10/10 % Positive	10/11 – 10/17 % Positive	Day Prior (10/18) % Positive	Yesterday (10/19) % Positive
Brooklyn red-zone focus area % positive	6.69%	5.86%	5.29%	4.60%	3.45%
Queens Kew Garden Hills/Forest Hills red-zone focus area % positive	3.82%	3.71%	2.58%	1.40%	2.17%
Queens Far Rockaway  red-zone focus area % positive	2.33%	2.88%	2.08%	0.93%	1.84%
Rockland red-zone focus area % positive	12.29%	9.77%	4.54%	2.68%	1.99%
Orange red-zone focus area % positive	24.64%	12.41%	4.62%	1.35%	6.00%
All red-zone focus area % positive	6.91%	6.13%	4.42%	3.32%	2.91%
Statewide % positive with red-zone focus areas included	1.25%	1.18%	1.16%	1.21%	1.32%
Statewide % positive without red-zonefocus areas included	1.02%	1.01%	1.06%	1.13%	1.25%

 

	9/27-10/3	10/4- 10/10	10/11 – 10/17	Day Prior (10/18)	Yesterday (10/19)
Percentage of state’s positive cases coming from red-zonefocus areas	21.80%	17.60%	11.50%	10.00%	9.60%

  

Today’s data is summarized briefly below: 

 

• Patient Hospitalization – 942 (+8) 
• Patients Newly Admitted – 113  
• Hospital Counties – 42 
• Number ICU – 194 (-4) 
• Number ICU with Intubation – 99 (-7) 
• Total Discharges – 78,530 (+88) 
• Deaths – 12 
• Total Deaths – 25,672  

  

The Governor also announced the Department of Health is continuing to partner with counties and local health departments to open new rapid testing sites and expand existing community testing options in communities in Southern Tier and Western New York counties along Pennsylvania border that have seen recent upticks in cases. 

  

Testing sites that will be open to the public for free rapid result tests this week are listed below. Additional hours and locations will be added as needed: 

  

Chautauqua County: 

Jamestown Training Grounds, 240 Harrison Street, Jamestown, NY 14701 

Dunkirk Training Grounds, 665 Brigham Road, Dunkirk, NY 14048 

To make appointment, follow the links for Jamestown, Dunkirk respectively. 

  

Cattaraugus County: 

Allegany Fire Hall, 1st Street (West Main St), Allegany, NY 14706 

Hours: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday-Saturday 

To make appointment: Any resident of Cattaraugus County can register by going to this link or calling (716) 938-9119 or (716) 938-2265 

  

Allegany County: 

Belmont BOCES Center, 5718 County Road 48, Belmont, NY 14813 

Community testing Tuesday-Saturday 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. 

To make appointment: (585) 268-9250, press #4, to schedule an appointment for testing 

  

Riverwalk Plaza, 121 Bolivar Road, Wellsville, NY 14895 

Testing Days/Hours: Tuesday – Friday 10/20-10/23: 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. 

To make appointment: (585) 268-9250, press #4 to schedule an appointment for testing 

  

Chemung County: 

Washington Elementary School (Elmira School District Administration Building) 

430 Washington Ave, Elmira 14901 

Expanded testing starting: Tuesday 10/20 – 10/24; Hours: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.To make appointment, follow this link.   

  

Steuben County: 

Beartown Road Alliance Church, 21 Beartown Rd., Painted Post, NY 14870 

Testing Monday – Friday (Variable hours) 

To make an appointment, follow this link. 

  

Tioga County: 

Village Town Hall, 32 Ithaca St, Waverly 14892 H 

Wednesday 12-6, Thursday and Friday 10-6 

To make appointment, follow this link.  

  

Each region’s percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows: 

  

REGION	SATURDAY	SUNDAY	MONDAY
Capital Region	0.9%	1.1%	0.8%
Central New York	1.2%	1.1%	2.1%
Finger Lakes	1.3%	1.5%	1.4%
Long Island	1.1%	1.0%	0.9%
Mid-Hudson	1.4%	1.4%	1.7%
Mohawk Valley	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%
New York City	1.1%	1.3%	1.3%
North Country	0.7%	1.3%	1.3%
Southern Tier	0.9%	1.2%	1.8%
Western New York	1.6%	0.9%	1.2%

 

Each New York City borough’s percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows: 

  

BOROUGH	SATURDAY	SUNDAY	MONDAY
Bronx	1.5%	1.2%	0.9%
Brooklyn	1.5%	1.5%	1.8%
Manhattan	0.6%	0.8%	1.0%
Queens	0.9%	1.6%	1.4%
Staten Island	1.4%	1.3%	1.5%

 

Of the 486,480 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows: 

  

County	Total Positive	New Positive
Albany	3,436	9
Allegany	220	8
Broome	3,003	76
Cattaraugus	417	11
Cayuga	302	8
Chautauqua	805	6
Chemung	1,332	40
Chenango	331	1
Clinton	215	16
Columbia	657	6
Cortland	436	20
Delaware	159	0
Dutchess	5,355	15
Erie	12,513	45
Essex	194	0
Franklin	77	0
Fulton	360	1
Genesee	371	0
Greene	477	3
Hamilton	16	0
Herkimer	371	1
Jefferson	192	1
Lewis	57	1
Livingston	250	7
Madison	537	1
Monroe	6,798	54
Montgomery	256	1
Nassau	48,731	74
Niagara	1,968	7
NYC	255,207	436
Oneida	2,599	5
Onondaga	5,052	31
Ontario	598	12
Orange	13,218	36
Orleans	368	5
Oswego	594	7
Otsego	368	1
Putnam	1,752	13
Rensselaer	1,040	6
Rockland	17,269	62
Saratoga	1,219	6
Schenectady	1,510	3
Schoharie	101	1
Schuyler	100	7
Seneca	128	0
St. Lawrence	368	5
Steuben	884	11
Suffolk	48,121	41
Sullivan	1,682	2
Tioga	459	11
Tompkins	556	8
Ulster	2,419	4
Warren	439	1
Washington	326	0
Wayne	386	3
Westchester	39,616	68
Wyoming	167	0
Yates	98	4

 

Yesterday, 12 New Yorkers died due to COVID-19 in New York State, bringing the total to 25,672. A geographic breakdown is as follows, by county of residence: 

  

Deaths by County of Residence
County	New Deaths
Allegany	1
Bronx	1
Broome	2
Dutchess	1
Erie	2
Kings	2
Richmond	1
Schuyler	1
Suffolk	1