What you should know
- The Port Authority will begin fining people up to $ 50 starting Monday for not wearing masks at any of its facilities. The measure comes when an increase in travel is expected during the holidays.
- Governor Andrew Cuomo is also concerned about the risk of holiday travel. Over the weekend Cuomo unveiled a new COVID-19 testing policy for entering New York that supersedes the previous quarantine list.
- People have to provide a negative COVID-19 test before arriving in New York and get a new one three days after entering. If they refuse, they must complete a 14-day quarantine. The rules do not apply to NJ, CT or PA.
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NEW YORK – Beginning Monday, the Port Authority will fine anyone who does not wear a face shield at its facilities, including the bus terminal in Manhattan, PATH and AirTrain stations and the Oculus. The person is subject to a fine of $ 50.
The agency says it was emphasizing voluntary compliance first, but moved to more aggressive action given recent increases in cases in New York and New Jersey and across the United States, where daily numbers continue to break records on a regular basis. That reality is only more dangerous as the holidays approach.
New York City on Monday reported its second-highest daily average of new cases in months (593), a number that Mayor Bill de Blasio described as concerning. It was the second time in four days that the average nearly reached 600. The daily positivity rate also rose to 2.1 percent, another “worrying” figure, according to the mayor.
The seven-day moving average positivity, which De Blasio calls the “most objective measure” of the city’s current situation in the war on coronavirus, was 1.81 percent, which is roughly where it has been for the past two weeks. .
“That number suggests some consistency with what we’ve been in the past few weeks. We want to turn the tide now. With all the scope and mask use, physical distancing and testing, we want to start breaking down that seven-day moving average.” de Blasio said Monday. “We are following the situation very closely because obviously we are at a point where that has increased in recent weeks and we take it very seriously.”
The latest rallies have continued even as New York City and risk zone areas of the state, where restrictions were reimposed to varying degrees last month, see progress. The latest increases have prompted Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose state now meets its previous threshold for inclusion on the quarantine list (10.43 new cases per 100,000 in an average of seven days from Monday), to remove the list from quarantine completely. Rather than attempt to quarantine all states, some of which cannot be isolated from New York anyway due to proximity, Cuomo unveiled a new testing policy.
If travelers to New York want to avoid quarantine, they must provide a negative COVID-19 test before arriving in the State and take another test four days after entering. If they refuse, they are still subject to a 14-day quarantine requirement.
The details of the new measure in this article:
The new rules do not apply to people arriving in New York from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, given the extensive daily commute related to work and other routines of life between these states. New Yorkers also don’t need to be tested if they leave the state for 24 hours or less. Cuomo says the upcoming holiday season amplifies the need for a more comprehensive testing requirement. Previously, Mayor Bill de Blasio had called for a federal mandate on air travel testing.
“Thanksgiving is going to be tough. College students are going to leave New York and go home. They are going to see their friends at home. Then they are going to come back after Thanksgiving break,” Cuomo said. “People are going to travel for Thanksgiving. We are having trouble with small gatherings, which is almost a psychological problem, people think they are safe.”
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has noted that small family gatherings are a growing source of new cases in the state, which has seen its daily new cases double over the past month. Cases are on the rise in virtually every part of New Jersey, and while Murphy says he’s open for another lockdown if that’s what it comes down to, he says he can’t control what people do behind the closed doors of their homes.
That’s where a growing part of the concern comes from, he said. Like the other governors, Murphy urges New Jersey residents to avoid vacation travel unless absolutely necessary. He said he would talk about it later this week.
Despite its recent struggles, New Jersey remains the fourth-best state in positivity rates. New York wavers between maintaining the second and third lowest positivity rates in the nation, according to data from Johns Hopkins. Still, both states know how quickly the virus can spiral dangerously out of control.
Last week, Murphy gave the people of his state a severe reality check. He said the second wave of coronavirus is no longer theoretical.
“It’s coming. And it’s coming now,” he said.
Schools, in general, have been a bright spot in New Jersey and New York when it comes to infections. New Jersey has reported a number of transmission-related “outbreaks” in K-12 schools, although the total number of cases remains low.
In New York City, de Blasio has said that less than 1 percent of teachers and students tested as part of the state-required random weekly and monthly tests have tested positive. Monday marks the beginning of a two-week window in which parents who opted for completely remote learning to start the year can choose to return to blended mode.
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Several dozen schools in the red and orange zones that had to completely switch remotely due to Cuomo’s at-risk program can now reopen if students and staff test negative. Then weekly testing is required of a quarter of a school’s population. When asked about those schools Monday, de Blasio said the city was evaluating the plan. He’s first concerned about what’s going on inside Brooklyn’s red light district, and said given the numbers, there could soon be a loosening of restrictions.
If schools were to move to yellow zones instead of red or orange, the only requirement would be to run weekly random tests of students and staff.
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