NY Governor Cuomo Fears COVID Numbers Will Rise After Thanksgiving

Whilst responding to our question about the new Testing / Quarantine policy, Governor Cuomo spoke of his concerns for the coming weeks where COVID-19 infections were concerned.

Yesterday, the Governor revealed the newest policy replacing the DOH (Department of Health) Travel Advisory Watch List – which covered a large portion of the United States. We followed up, seeking clarity on which states would be excused from following such rules due to their proximity to New York.

Mr. Cuomo went on to explain how and why this new policy was so much better. He also expressed his fears over the upcoming holiday season.

Below the following audio is the related transcript.

Our question to the Governor:

“About the new testing and quarantine rules and Contiguous states. Yesterday…just as with numerous times in the past you referenced New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.Yet news outlets appear to be unclear, as am I, about whether that includes Vermont and Massachusetts. Can you please clarify that for everyone?”

Governor:

“It’s all contiguous States. ‘and let me say this about the travel policy. We had, the list basically almost all the states when we were done. The list made sense when we started with one or two states. When every state is on the list, by definition, the list defeats its purpose.

This approach is science-based. It can actually make it easier and safer to come and go. The list method was just a 14 day quarantine which is hard, it’s very hard.  Not only is it time consuming, it’s very disruptive.

This way, tests 3 days before you arrive and by the way, you’d want to take a test anyway if you’re about to travel because if you’re positive you don’t want to get on a plane and spread it – and if you’re positive, you don’t want to be traveling right? You want to be taking care of yourself, so a test at least 3 days before and then, once you arrive, three days and you test on the fourth.

So not only is it safer and easier, it’s what you would want to do anyway if you’re traveling. Before you get on a plane, make sure you’re well for your own well-being and you’re going to be on a commercial flight and you don’t want to infect dozens of people. Once you land, you get off your flight, three day quarantine which I think is reasonable and then you take a test on the fourth day.

So, it’s simpler, it’s less time consuming, it’s safer, it’s easier – and we now have the testing capacity that can handle it. That’s something that we didn’t have early on. On the contiguous states, we do urge that people should not do non-essential travel. You’re also going to hear me say this One Hundred and Ten times.

I’m worried about Thanksgiving. The spread is coming from small gatherings. It’s not like when the virus first started and when we did the contact tracing, we could get it back to relatively isolated locations that were generating dozens of cases. These are relatively small gatherings. They’re parties, they’re family meals, etcetera.

There’s an attitude that since we’re all in the same family we’re safe. Since we’re good friends, we’ve known each other a long time that means we’re safe. There’s no correlation to that and science. I understand the human instinct. It’s just not right. It’s not correct. You have a Thanksgiving Dinner with 7 people, you can still be infected – and Thanksgiving, I understand. This has been a long time and I understand COVID fatigue and I understand ‘Well, I’m just going to be with my family.’

I think you’re going to see the number increase even more after Thanksgiving and it’s going to be coming into December when you run into the Flu season etcetera and I think we have to double down on the precautions even though it is Thanksgiving. I understand the symbolism of Thanksgiving. I appreciate the desire to be with family. But I really urge people to think twice this year – but, you’ll hear me say that again in the coming weeks.”