Gov adds 8 more states to his don’t come to N.Y. list

ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo has doubled the number of states included in a travel advisory mandating visitors coming from areas hit hard by coronavirus quarantine for two weeks.

Eight additional states reporting rising infection rates now meet the threshold set by the governor last week.

“We now have 16 states that meet the formula for quarantine, so that has gone way up,” Cuomo (inset) said during an interview Tuesday morning on NY1. “That’s a very significant problem.”

Eight states were included during the initial rollout of the order last week, announced by Cuomo and the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut.

With the virus spreading throughout the country, Cuomo said travelers from California, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada and Tennessee are now on the list.

The states announced last Wednesday were Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.

Under the travel advisory, anyone traveling to the tristate region from states with increasing rates of COVID-19 must self-quarantine for 14 days or face fines.

Last week, Cuomo said violators will be subject to a judicial order, as well as fines of $2,000 for a first offense, $5,000 for a second offense, and $10,000 thereafter.

On Monday, the governor said that people flying into the Empire State will be asked to fill out forms that will aid the state’s new policy.

New Jersey and Connecticut announced earlier Tuesday that the order applies to the additional states as well.

While New York and New Jersey were the epicenters of the outbreak in March and April, both states have drastically reduced infections as states that eased restrictions earlier are now seeing significant upticks in cases.

Thirteen people died from the virus in New York on Monday, up six from a day earlier, bringing the statewide death toll to 24,855.

Coronavirus hospitalizations rose slightly Monday to 891, with 38 additional people admitted statewide.

The state conducted 52,025 COVID-19 tests on Monday. Only 524 came back positive, an infection rate of about 1%.

Cuomo also said he will be sending state police as well as health and State Liquor Authority officials to the five boroughs Tuesday evening to observe whether people are following social-distancing guidelines at bars and restaurants.

“I’m trying to gauge how bad the noncompliance is,” he told NY1.

Freddi Goldstein, Mayor de Blasio’s press secretary, panned the governor’s plan, noting previous problems created when police were used to enforce COVID-19 rules.

“The mayor decided long ago that police aren’t the answer to social distancing,” she tweeted. “The Gov should heed our lesson. Ambassadors are out distributing masks & reminding NYers. While cases surge across the country NYC has been declining by wearing masks long before the gov spoke about them.”

The governor said he will use the information gathered in the “snapshot” to decide whether the city can move forward with indoor dining next week as part of Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan.