By Jodi Fortino – Kansas News Service
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that Kansas has been added to the state’s travel advisory, along with Oklahoma, Delaware and 16 other states previously on their list.
Anyone traveling to New York from Kansas must quarantine for two weeks upon arrival.
“As states around the country experience increasing community spread, New York is taking action to ensure the continued safety of our phased reopening,” said Cuomo in a release.
The quarantine applies to anyone arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a 7-day rolling average or a state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average.
“New Yorkers did the impossible – we went from the worst infection rate in the United States to one of the best – and the last thing we need is to see another spike of COVID-19,” said Cuomo.
Kansas set a record last week for its worst two-week spike in COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. The state is now reporting an average of 317 new coronavirus cases a day.
Mark Ebitts, president of Shelton Travel Service in Kansas City, says none of his clients have plans to visit the state of New York anytime soon.
“We’ve not really seen much travel go back to that area because there’s not a lot of tourism available once you’re there. People like going to Broadway shows, going to museums and exhibits, and a lot of those places are closed due to COVID,” said Ebitts.
As the state continues to reopen, he says the travel service is seeing an increased interest from those in the Kansas City metro wanting to travel after spending the last months under stay-at-home orders.
Ebitts says clients are now being more careful of where they choose to vacation.
“We do see people staying either closer to home or a drivable distance, or we see them going to smaller communities where there’s not a lot of COVID activity and more of a resort feel versus a big city feel,” said Ebitts.
Despite this recent uptick, Ebitts says business is still down 40% from where it was this time last summer.