Governor 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.
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
People caught violating the advisory risk civil penalties ranging from $2,000 to $10,000.
There are exceptions to the travel advisory for essential businesses. Guidance on travel to these states for essential employees can be found at https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-travel-advisory.
Also, last night, the New York State Department of Labor (DOL) released guidance and an FAQ regarding the new paid sick leave law that applies to all private sector businesses in the state. You can find the guidance here and FAQ’s here.
In addition to the guidance/FAQ’s, the DOL has indicated that it will soon be publishing proposed regulations regarding certain aspects of the new law. Specifically:
- Determining employer size when deciding how much paid sick leave is to be provided;
- Determining employer ‘net income’ when deciding whether leave should be paid or not (for employers of 4 or less); and
- What kind of documentation can be requested of an employee using paid sick leave.
The Business Council will be holding a special free webinar tomorrow, Wednesday October 21 at 11:00 am, to review these guidelines and discuss employer compliance strategies.
To register for this webinar, click the link below:
https://bcnys.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5PCGuFCCQPeXSW_xOXV3LA
