Cuomo Asks Airlines to COVID Test UK Travelers Entering NY Amid Fears of New Virus Strain

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday has asked 3 major airlines to require U.K. travelers show proof of a negative COVID test before departing for the Empire State amid concerns over a more contagious strain of the virus spreading in England.

According to local New York news, Governor Cuomo asked British Airways, Delta, and Virgin Atlantic to require the test but had only come to an agreement with British Airways to voluntarily put the measures in motion.

With six daily flights coming into New York from the U.K, the Governor expressed his belief that it is only a matter of time before the ‘mutant strain’ across the pond is found in NY.

“If it’s been flying around the world, it will be here. This was how we had that New York ambush in the first place,” Cuomo said on Monday.

He would add that the Port Authority lacks jurisdiction to institute necessary restrictions and screenings and called on the federal government to require testing or altogether ban travelers coming in from England.

“We’re not going to go through it again. We have been victimized by federal incompetence and federal negligence, that is a fact. We’re not going to be victimized again,” the Governor said.

The Sun reports that fear over the new strain, which is claimed to be 70 per cent more infectious than the original, has sparked a decision from 40 countries to ban Brits from flying across their borders. These countries include France, Germany, Ireland, Canada, India, Russia, Israel and others.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson plunged London and the entire South East of the England into fresh lockdowns over the weekend, announcing a previously non-existent ‘Tier four’ restriction level. The Prime minister explained that the new restrictions were happening because of a “change in the science” as the new, apparently more infectious strain spreads.

As we presented earlier today, scientists and British MP’s are putting into question whether the new strain is as contagious as the government claims.

“I’ve been doing this job for 25 years and I can tell you can’t establish a quantifiable number in such a short time frame,” Carl Heneghan, Professor of Evidence Based Medicine at Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Primary Care, said of the 70% figure.

“I would want to have very clear evidence rather than ‘we think it’s more transmissible’ so we can see if it is or not,” Heneghan continued.

Some conservative MPs, who were already rebelling against the tier 3 lockdown in place, have called for all the scientific evidence the government has on the strain to be made public.

While the “experts” and “scientists” have been preaching that light is now at the end of the tunnel due to the roll out of the new COVID-19 vaccines, the questions now remains: Will the vaccines be effective against new strains? How hyped up will this new strain become in the media? Will the actual science be recognized and followed? Will fresh, more strict lockdowns hit countries that see infections of this new strain?

If the trends continue we can only expect the hysteria to ramp up due to the headlines of a new strain alone, leaving small business owners all over the world seeing no light at the end of this tunnel.

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