The state Health Department has lifted a quarantine on 100 New Rochelle residents who tested positive for the coronavirus almost one month ago, but have not shown any symptoms for weeks.
New Rochelle was one of the nation's first COVID-19 hotspots after a local attorney who regularly traveled into Manhattan to work fell ill and subsequently infected dozens of people in the community - many of whom were connected to him through his synagogue.
There had been some confusion about when, exactly to release people from quarantine, as the CDC has two guidelines.
The first allows a quarantine to end after seven days since a person's symptoms first appeared and no more symptoms for at least three days. The second is to get back at least one, if not two, negative tests for coronavirus.
New York had been using the test protocol, but actually conducting those tests has become increasingly difficult, state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker admitted.
The health department also sent out an advisory statewide yesterday to note the change in policy from a test-based strategy to a symptom-based one.
"The criteria in New York State for release from mandatory home isolation is now being revised to use the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) non-test-based strategy," the advisory said.