PROVIDENCE – Travelers from Rhode Island were removed from travel advisories in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, the states confirmed to PBN on Tuesday morning.
The travel advisories, which were announced on Aug. 4, would require individuals traveling to these states from Rhode Island to quarantine for 14 days. Rhode Island was originally added to the these states’ quarantine lists because Rhode Island met the metrics to qualify, which is a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a weekly rolling average or an area with 10% or higher positivity rate over a weekly average.
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“New York went from one of the worst situations in the country, to an example for the rest of the nation to follow,” N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement sent to a Providence Business News reporter. “Our numbers continue to remain low and steady, which shows this virus will respond to an approach based on science, not politics. In order to protect this progress, we must keep up our efforts – we cannot go back to the hell we experienced a few months ago.”
Massachusetts health officials were not immediately available to confirm if Rhode Island would be removed from their travel advisories as well. However, Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker addressed questions from reporters regarding Rhode Island remaining on the state’s travel advisory during his coronavirus press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
“Rhode Island… I mean, the numbers are the numbers,” said Baker. “We set a travel advisory based on a certain set of criteria and they exceeded them. If they come back down and fall under them, then we’ll change our policy.”
On Mass. Department of Public Health’s website, Rhode Island is still listed as a “restricted” state, which is based on the average daily cases per 100,000 having to be below six and a positive test rate below 5%, both measured on a weekly rolling average.
The news comes as 38 states in the U.S. are testing a higher than recommended positivity rate, as set by the World Health Organization, according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Tracking Initiative.
The World Health Organization recommends travel advisories for visitors from states with a 5% positive rate or higher. Rhode Island hit this mark for the first time on July 31 with a 5.3% positive rate. Johns Hopkins reported on Tuesday that Rhode Island had a positivity rate of 5.60%.
Alexa Gagosz is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Gagosz@PBN.com.
