ALBANY – New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are issuing a “travel advisory” requiring out-of-state visitors to isolate themselves for 14 days after arriving in the northeast if they are traveling from states with high rates of coronavirus infections.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced the guidelines at a New York City press conference, where he was joined via videoconference by Govs. Phil Murphy of New Jersey and Ned Lamont of Connecticut. Cuomo had first suggested a quarantine period for visitors last week and doubled down on the assertions a few days ago – saying residents of states where cases are on the rise, including Florida and Texas, may visit New York and cause another spike in infections.
“We have a calibration for the infection rate, and any state that goes over the infection rate – that state will be subject to the quarantine,” Cuomo said. “It’s only for the simple reason that we worked very hard to get the viral transmission rate down, and we don’t want to see it go back up.”
New York – mirroring its northeast neighbors – has been relatively successful in keeping coronavirus numbers low in recent weeks, with daily deaths consistently below 50 and hospitalizations falling. Wednesday’s announcement is a turn of events after several other states had issued similar guidance for New Yorkers when the state’s numbers were at their worst in the nation in late March and early April.
In March, Florida began requiring New Yorkers to self-isolate for 14 days after arriving in the Sunshine State. The same month, Rhode Island also issued a 14-day quarantine order for New York travelers, enforced as authorities stopped cars to question drivers with New York license plates and knocked on doors in search of visitors.
The latter order had caused a massive clash with Cuomo’s office, as the governor threatened to sue Rhode Island for singling out New York. It was later walked back.