COVID rates in NY remain high despite new CDC guidelines

NEW YORK - The CDC announced big changes to its travel guidance Friday – both domestically and internationally for people who have been fully vaccinated.

However, despite the fact that 1 in 5 Americans have now been vaccinated against the coronavirus, the easing of these restrictions comes as COVID-19 cases are still on the rise across the country, including right here in our area. The most recently reported daily COVID positivity rate is 3% statewide in New York, compared to Long Island which is at 4.3%.

"For domestic travel, fully vaccinated people do not need to get a COVID-19 test before or after travel and do not need to self-quarantine after travel. For international travel, fully vaccinated people do not need to get a COVID-19 test before they leave the United States, unless it is required by their international destination. However, fully vaccinated people should get tested and have a negative test result before they board an international flight back into the United States, but they do not need to quarantine when they arrive here," said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky.

Dr. Eric Cioe-Peña, Director of Global Health with Northwell, is reminding people that the vaccine protects you from death and severe illness, but there’s still that small chance you can get and transmit the virus.

"I think the intent there is to say look this is safe for vaccinated people but there is still a risk to unvaccinated people and especially when you’re traveling internationally you are much more likely to encounter unvaccinated people in virtually every other country you visit," said Cioe-Peña.

The CDC still doesn’t recommend traveling at this time due to the rising number of COVID cases. It’s also important to note that this new guidance only affects fully vaccinated people. Previous guidelines remain the same for unvaccinated people.