Cuomo launches investigation into student who returned to New York from Florida and 'infected four others with COVID-19'

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says a New York high school student who contracted COVID-19 on a recent trip to Florida infected four other students when they returned for a graduation event last Saturday night The state’scontact tracing team is now trying to locate people who have come into contact with the unidentified student from Horace Greeley High School …

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says a New York high school student who contracted COVID-19 on a recent trip to Florida infected four other students when they returned for a graduation event last Saturday night

The state’scontact tracing team is now trying to locate people who have come into contact with the unidentified student from Horace Greeley High School in Westchester County.

At the time, the student had not yet developed symptoms of the virus and did not know they were infected.

They had also returned to New York before Cuomo ordered a 14-day quarantine for those arriving in the state from eight coronavirus hot spots – including Florida.

‘We’re prepared to do the aggressive testing and contact tracing required to slow and ultimately control any potential clusters of new cases like the one in Westchester County,’ Cuomo stated Friday

The ‘drive-in’ graduation ceremony was held at the Chappaqua train station – but attendees said that not everyone stayed in their cars, The New York Daily News reports.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo ‘s COVID-19 contact tracing team is frantically trying to locate people who came into contact with a New York high school student who contracted the coronavirus on a recent trip to Florida

There were reportedly complaints circulating on social media that some students were not wearing face masks and did not maintain a safe social distance.

One infected student later went to a second event following the graduation, where they came into contact with students from other schools in the area.

State health officials are urging anyone who attended the Horace Greeley graduation or that second event to remained quarantined until July 5.

Westchester County was the site of a major coronavirus cluster at the beginning of New York state’s outbreak back in March – and officials are desperate to avoid a repeat of that incident.

The infected student reportedly attended Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, Westchester County. Four other students from the school have now tested positive to the virus

New York has gone from being the worst-affected states to being one of the few on track to contain the coronavirus.

In order to stop a second wave, Cuomo announced the new mandatory quarantine order on Wednesday for people arriving from Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and Texas.

Florida is currently seeing a dangerous spike in cases, with the state recording a whopping 9,585 new infections on Saturday.

Travelers now arriving at New York City’s airports are being greeted with signs telling them they face restrictions if they have arrived from any of the eight listed states.

New York has gone from being the worst-affected states to being one of the few on track to contain the coronavirus

The US recorded 45,242 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the largest single-day increase of the pandemic. There are now more than 2.4 million COVID-19 cases across the country

Those who flout the 14-day quarantine period risk a $10,000 fine.

The requirements of the travel advisory do not apply to any individual passing through designated states for a limited duration, such as connecting on a plane or driving through.

‘In New York, it’s a travel advisory, you are informed you should quarantine for 14 days,’ said Cuomo on Wednesday.

‘If you go to a hotel, hotel clerk asks how come you are not in quarantine?

Travelers now arriving at New York City ‘s airports are being greeted with signs telling them they face restrictions if they have arrived from any of the eight listed states

‘You get stopped by a police officer who says, you are driving a car from Florida, weren’t you supposed to be quarantine for 14 days?

‘Any of those mechanisms you can be detected as violating your quarantine.

‘If you are violating your quarantine, you can be subject to a judicial order and mandatory quarantine. You could have to pay the costs of quarantine. There are also fines that go along with violating the quarantine. $2,000 for the first violation, $5,000 for the second, up to $10,000 if you cause harm.’

Essential workers are exempt from the ruling, but must take precautions and have a COVID-19 test as soon as possible, the state says.

The US recorded 45,242 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the largest single-day increase of the pandemic.

The US death toll is now over 125,000, the highest in the world, with a total of 2.48million confirmed cases.