NYS Travel Advisory Inconclusive results
JFKIAT Susana Desa, JFKIAT CEO Roel Huinink, Swissport Joe Periera, Hallmark Ignazio Altizio ribbon cut the new self service lost/damaged kiosk at the baggage service area in
the T4 arrivals hall at JFK Airport. This new feature for passengers will allow lost or damaged bags to be searched on the kiosk, phone or touchpad by entrring basic information.
The system will then search and inform the passenger when the bag is located is and where it is to be deiivered. Photo by Jeff Yapalater
AIRPORT VOICE, SEPTEMBER 2020 3
BY JEFF YAPALATER
For six weeks now, the
New York State Department
of Health (NYSDOH) has representatives
at many reports,
bus stations and other crossings
into NY State to intercept
returning domestic travelers
and ask them to fill our
a covid health questionnaire
form. Arriving passengers
from high risk states are the
basis of the NY State Travel
Advisory which require a
health form and levies of fines
for those unwilling to provide
disclosure.
There have been hundreds
of thousands of people who
have responded, many willfully
according to the DOH,
but what are the results?
While the program has
been successful in obtaining
hundreds of thousands of
forms from arriving domestic
arrivals at the airports, there
are no numbers as to the success
of the program.
At his time, the DOH media
relations does not have any
quantitative results regarding
follow-up on the number
of positive cases, the number
of non-responses, the number
of follow up calls to suspicious
individuals. nor the number
of any fines that have been levied
against non-compliant individuals.
This effort is part of the
Travel Advisory program
that Governor Cuomo put into
place to keep Covid infected
travelers from possibly bringing
the virus from other high
risk states to low risk NYS.
Controversial because it
mandates a 14 day quarantine
period of the data finds that a
person is infected or a carrier
of the virus.
Certain groups feel this
is an infringement on their
rights while others support
the program as it is another
way that NYS is trying to keep
its infection rate and death
rate very low.
This is the information
NYS DOH provides on the initiative:
· We enforce the out-ofstate
quarantine the same
way any other quarantine is
enforced.
· We encourage all travelers
to use the online form,
however if they prefer to fill
out the paper form we have a
mechanism for collecting it at
all airports.
· Airlines have committed
to ensure every passenger
is notified through pre-flight
emails, and pre-flight and inflight
announcements before
they land in New York.
· Everyone who fills out
a form receives a phone call
or text messages or random
checks – and the vast majority
of people have been responsive.
However in the
small number of cases where
someone cannot be reached
through these means, their
information has been sent to
their local health department
for additional compliance and
enforcement including in-person
checks.
· Anyone found to be violating
the Executive Order is
subject to fines up to $10,000.
An updated list as of September
15 of high risk states
on the Travel Advisory are:
Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware,
Florida, Georgia,
Guam, Iowa,
Idaho, Illinois, Indiana,
Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Missouri. Mississippi, North
Carolina,
North Dakota, Nebraska,
Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South
Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee,
Texas, Utah, Virginia,
West Virginia, Wisconsin.
DOH form submission post at T4