New York Recommends, but no Longer Requires International Travelers to Quarantine

  New York will no longer require international travelers quarantine upon arrival, although the state’s Health Department continues to recommend that they do so, based on guidance that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued.

    In April, the CDC said that international and domestic travelers, who are full vaccinated against COVID and who wear masks, could travel safely “at low risk to themselves.” 

   The CDC, however, also pointed out that many other countries have much lower vaccination rates that that of the US. In addition, the CDC remains concerned about the spread of new COVID variants that are more prevalent overseas.

   Federal health officials have said that they preferred all people avoid travel while the threat of the virus remains so high in the United States.

  What the CDC does require now of all international travelers to the United States is that they show proof of recent negative test results before boarding their flights. Not every country requires negative COVID tests results and/or quarantine, so fully vaccinated Americans who wish to travel abroad only need to take those precautions if the countries they are visiting requires them. 

   The CDC guidance does require American travelers, before boarding flights back to the US, to provide negative coronavirus tests, which should be repeated three to five days after returning home.

    Taking the lead of the CDC, New York health officials said in their guidance that they still recommend that all international travelers get tested three to five days after arriving in the state.

   To show extra care in preventing the spread of COVID or its variants, New York health officials also suggested that unvaccinated travelers self-quarantine for up to 10 days and, for two weeks, avoid people who are immunocompromised for their safety.

   The new international guidance comes less than weeks after Gov. Andrew Cuomo ended the state’s requirement that domestic travelers to New York quarantine upon arrival.

(Photo: Don Pollard/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)