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State officials announced this week that New York would be following in the footsteps of the CDC, which reduced required COVID-19 quarantines from 14 to 10 days.
Anyone who may have been exposed to COVID-19 will be reached by contact tracers, who will then instruct that person to quarantine, while following up with them daily through text messages and phone calls.
The quarantine is also mandatory for travelers coming to New York from out of state, outside of neighboring New York and New Jersey, which officials said would be “nearly impossible” to monitor due to their interconnected nature.
According to the CDC, the reasoning behind lowering the time spent in quarantine is to ensure that travelers and those exposed to the virus actually follow the state and federal government’s rules about isolating.
"We do think that the work that we've done, and some of the studies we have and the modeling data that we have, shows that we can with testing shorten quarantines,” Dr. Henry Walke, the CDC's incident manager for COVID-19 response, said to the Wall Street Journal earlier this month.
“If a test comes back negative," he added, “then their probability of going on and developing an infection after that is pretty low.”
While under quarantine, health officials said that New Yorkers should monitor themselves for any possible symptoms to determine whether there is a need to take a COVID-19 test. Those who do not develop symptoms will not be required to take a test before leaving quarantine.
“New York is leading the nation in quickly and efficiently administering the vaccine, so if we can continue that progress and the rest of us keep making smart decisions like avoiding gatherings, socially distancing and wearing masks, we will finally reach the light at the end of the tunnel,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement released this week.
In New York, the positive COVID-19 rate rose to 7.14 percent on Tuesday, Dec. 29, with hospitalizations continuing to rise, as 7,814 patients are being treated for the virus across the state, up. nearly 1,000 in less than a week. There were 124 new COVID-19-related deaths.
Since the pandemic began in March, there have been a total of 943,990 positive COVID-19 cases reported in New York out of 24.9 million tests administered. The virus-related death toll has risen to 29,756 as of Wednesday, Dec. 30.
“As we approach the New Year and the end of the holiday season, all New Yorkers must remember one simple truth — celebrating smart stops shutdowns,” Cuomo added.
“While the holidays have always been synonymous with socialization, the data shows the vast majority of new cases are stemming from private gatherings,” he continued. “I understand not being able to join together with loved ones makes an already trying year, more difficult, but it also means we control our own destiny.”
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