SUNY and CUNY students studying abroad in several countries will be brought home and temporarily quarantined as a precaution due to the continued spread of the novel coronavirus.

Cuomo announced on Wednesday, March 4, that four additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in New York State, including four in New Rochelle.

The governor said that approximately 300 students and staff studying in China, Italy, Japan, Iran, or South Korea are being flown home and will be quarantined for 14 days “out of an abundance of caution.” They will be flown back to Stewart Airport in Orange County.

“Remember,” Cuomo said. “We have been expecting more cases and we are fully prepared. There is no cause for undue anxiety.

We understand that people are afraid and uncertain. Fear is a natural human response to any threat, especially when it’s a threat we don’t completely understand," World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom said. "But as we get more data, we are understanding this virus, and the disease it causes, more and more.

"This virus is not SARS, it’s not MERS, and it’s not influenza. It is a unique virus with unique characteristics. Both COVID-19 and influenza cause respiratory disease and spread the same way, via small droplets of fluid from the nose and mouth of someone who is sick."

Adhanom added, "COVID-19 spreads less efficiently than flu, transmission does not appear to be driven by people who are not sick, it causes more severe illness than flu, there are not yet any vaccines or therapeutics, and it can be contained – which is why we must do everything we can to contain it."

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