NY, NJ and CT require travelers from COVID-19 hotspots to quarantine

New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are issuing a travel advisory and requiring visitors from states with high COVID-19 cases to quarantine for 14 days.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said the travel advisory applies to anyone coming from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a 7-day rolling average or a state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average.

As of Wednesday, the advisory applies to Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, Utah and Texas.

The travel advisory begins tonight at midnight.

According to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo the advisory is to protect the gains these states have made against the pandemic.

“There were no states that were handed a worse hand, if you will, when this first started,” Cuomo said. “No one else had to accomplish as much as we had to accomplish in such a short period of time. No one else had to bend the curve as much as we had to bend the curve.”

You can read: New Jersey reopening: Casinos and indoor dining to return July 2

Each of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut will be responsible for its own enforcement of the quarantine. The states’ health commissioners will pursue an aggressive public relations campaign at airports, highways and other locations.

Gov. Murphy of New Jersey said the advisory applies to everyone, including those residents returning home.

“This is not a polite recommendation, this is a strong advisory built on the back of the healthcare professionals,” he said. “We are asking folks to take on a big amount of personal responsibility here, to do the right thing for themselves as well as for their families, communities and the rest of us.”

Dr. Richard Besser, former acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said no state has yet effectively reopened its economy safely.

“We have to figure out how to make that transition in a successful way, or every state that reopens, even those that have done a really good job at tamping this down, are going to see pretty dramatic rises and we’re going to end up back to where we were,” Besser said.