ALBANY – Governor Andrew Cuomo is worried that international travelers coming to the U.S. through New York metropolitan airports could be unknowingly bringing with them the coronavirus or worse, the mutated form that has been identified in the United Kingdom and other countries.
One case of the UK strain has already been identified in Saratoga Springs, he said.
Cuomo would like the federal government to take definitive action to ensure no cases make their way into New York.
“I am asking today the Customs and Boarder Patrol to either require in New York airports that the person shows that they were tested before admission or allow the Port Authority staff to request that people coming through customs whether or not they were tested,” he said. “We don’t want tens of thousands of people coming through out airports every day from countries around the world who were not tested.”
Cuomo also said hospitals in the state must pick up the pace of vaccinating their staff against the deadly virus.
He noted that Mt. Vernon Hospital has only vaccinated 11 percent of its staff, New Rochelle Hospital has only vaccinated 25 percent of its employees, and Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie only vaccinated 37 percent of its staff.
