Cuomo To New York: Don’t Have a Family Gathering on Thanksgiving
Gov. Cuomo gave New Yorkers hoping to see family on Thanksgiving some bad news.
Thanksgiving is a few weeks away but New Yorkers are being told celebrate without family this year. On Wednesday during a conference call with reporters, Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged New Yorkers to use caution during the upcoming holidays and recommended against families getting together for Thanksgiving.
"My personal advice is you don’t have a family gathering, even for Thanksgiving,” Cuomo said during the conference call. “My personal advice is the best way to say ‘I love you’ this Thanksgiving, the best way to say ‘I’m thankful for you’ is to say ‘I love you so much, I’m so thankful for you, that I don’t want to endanger you, and I don’t want to endanger our family and I don’t want to endanger our friends, so we’ll celebrate virtually.’ But that is my personal opinion.”
If Empire State residents want to travel for Thanksgiving outside of New York State, they can, but Cuomo stressed anyone who travels to a state on New York State's Travel Advisory must quarantine for 14 days.
The updated travel advisory now impacts nearly 85 percent of the United States. New Yorkers could face a big fine or even jail after traveling to over 40 locations. Empire State residents are also discouraged from traveling to 92 percent of the country.
Neighboring state Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania all meet the criteria for the travel advisory, however, given the interconnected nature of the region and mode of transport between the states, a quarantine on these states is not practically viable, officials said.
The full, updated travel advisory list is available below:
Alaska
Alabama
Arkansas
Arizona
California
Colorado
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Guam
Iowa
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maryland
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Mississippi
Montana
North Carolina
North Dakota
Nebraska
New Mexico
Nevada
Ohio
Oklahoma
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Wisconsin
West Virginia
Wyoming