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Mayor de Blasio urges NYC residents to avoid holiday travel

ByEyewitness News WABC logo

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

NYC mayor urges residents to avoid holiday travel

NJ Burkett reports on the mayor's message to residents.

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio urged New York City residents to avoid traveling for the holidays.

"Doing that (traveling), you could be putting your family and yourself in danger and bringing the disease back here," he said.

Mayor de Blasio added that residents who do travel should get tested and reminds them that there is a 14-day quarantine for people coming back from most parts of the country and abroad.

"Everyone is going to make their own decision, I know there are painful choices. I get it. But my recommendation is to avoid travel this holiday season. Stay safe, to keep us all safe," de Blasio said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said that most residents traveling will need to quarantine upon return.

He added that personally, he and his family would not be traveling for the holidays.

"I can't see traveling to family in other places. I can't see it working for anybody. It's sad, it's very sad. I really really love it, care about it. But, I'm sort of telling myself what I'm telling everyone else: This may be the one year in our life we have to change our patterns, just take a deep breath and know that next year will be better," the mayor said.

He also called for the federal government to mandate a negative COVID test before being permitted to board a plane, for all domestic and international travelers.

Mayor de Blasio is pushing for all arriving travelers to get tested immediately upon arrival at JFK and LaGuardia airports.

Coronavirus positivity is up in New York City with a 2.48% daily positivity and a 1.66% seven-day rolling average.

The mayor said he would close New York City schools if the seven-day average reaches 3%.

Click here find out if you are in a COVID hot spot and what new restrictions apply.

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