New York Attorney General Letitia James' office on Wednesday formally appealed a state Supreme Court ruling that tossed out regulations mandating people who are infected with or exposed to highly contagious communicable diseases be quarantined. 

The regulation would allow the state Department of Health to work with local health officials to put mandated isolation and quarantine rules in place in order to prevent the spread of highly contagious or communicable diseases. 

The initial suit had been brought by Republican state lawmakers and the organization Uniting New York, who alleged the regulation was a form of government overreach. 

State Sen. George Borrello, one of the lawmakers involved in the suit, said in a Capital Tonight interview on Tuesday he expects to be successful in any appeal. 

"This was to ensure that, number one, these Department of Health regulations were recognized as illegal and unconstitutional," Borrello said. 

The legal challenge is only the latest lawsuit to be filed to challenge powers by elected officials to oversee public health crises during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Hochul's office on Wednesday reported a continued rise in COVID-19 cases and people who are hospitalized with COVID-19. The seven-day average of COVID cases in New York has risen from 30.53 per 100,000 people to 35.28. 

Hospitalizations have also ticked upward in recent days to 2,397 patients, but 57% of those people were hospitalized for reasons other than COVID-19.