DE GRINCH CANCELS HOLIDAY

Don’t travel to family: Blas

Santa may not be coming to Macy’s this year, but Mayor de Blasio is already playing the Grinch.

Hizzoner told New Yorkers not to leave the city to visit friends and family for Thanksgiving — or any of the winter holidays — to prevent a second wave of the coronavirus.

“I hate to say it, but I have to urge all New Yorkers — do not travel out of state for the holidays,” de Blasio said Tuesday during his daily press briefing from City Hall.

“Realize that by doing that, unfortunately you could be putting yourself and your family in danger and the risk of bringing the disease back here,” Hizzoner said.

He also asked the Trump administration to impose a COVID-19 testing mandate for all domestic and international airline passengers.

“This is the moment for the federal government to create a mandate that anyone who gets on an airplane has had a negative coronavirus test within the previous 72 hours,” de Blasio said.

The mayor has no authority to make the airtravel rule himself, and he is only asking New Yorkers to stay home for the holidays, not requiring them to do so.

Meanwhile, SUNY students should prepare to get a swab stuck up their noses before heading home for Turkey Day. The state’s public university system on Tuesday announced a new policy requiring students to test negative for COVID-19 before they can leave for Thanksgiving break. ak.

Chancellor Jim Malatras said thethe policy “drastically reduces the chances of COVID-19 community spread.”

All of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities must now come up with plans by Nov. 5 on how to test the entire student population within 10 days before the break.

Those hailing from any of 40 hot-spot states and US territories on a restricted list could face stricter implementation of the state’s quarantine rules upon their return to New York.

De Blasio on Tuesday vowed tougher local enforcement of thee rules under which travelers returning to or visiting New York from those hot spots must selfisolate for 14 days. So far, just one person has been busted for breaking the order.

Some of city’s daily coronavirus indicators are on the rise. Reported COVID-19 cases on a seven-day average are close to the threshold of 550 and nearly 2.5 percent of city residents tested positive for the virus on Sunday, the most recent data available. But hospitalizations, deaths and the weeklong average for positive tests remain low.

“We have a real threat of a second wave here in New York City,” de Blasio said. “We’ve been fighting it back, but we can’t take it lightly.”