Tri-State Governors Issue Incoming Travel Advisory
Anyone who travels to New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut from states with high COVID-19 infection rates, such as Florida, must now quarantine themselves for 14 days.
On Wednesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was joined by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont to announce the joint incoming travel advisory.
“We look at where we are now, we did a full 180 degrees,” Cuomo said. New York now has some of the lowest rates in the country. “No one else had to bend the curve as much as we had to bend the curve,” he said, adding that “we now have to make sure the rate continues to drop.”
Cuomo credited New Yorkers for the decline in numbers of the virus. “We have to stay New York tough,” he said.
The quarantine, effective midnight tonight, applies to any person arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a seven-day rolling average or a state with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over a seven-day rolling average, according to Cuomo’s office.
Using that formula, as of today, that includes Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, Utah and Texas. In total, 27 states in the U.S. have reported increased numbers of COVID-19.
A list of the states the advisory applies to will be listed on state websites and updated often.
Each state will regulate its own enforcement of the quarantine. Those who do not follow the order could be subject to fines up to $10,000, if harm is caused. The three governors are also asking hotels to communicate the quarantine to guests.
Cuomo reiterated that three million Europeans came to our region this winter prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 and that “we had viral spread throughout the community.”
The other governors echoed Cuomo’s sentiment that what happens in New York, happens in New Jersey and Connecticut.
“We live in the densest neighborhood in America,” Murphy said. He credited the “spirit of teamwork.”
These three states have gone “through hell and back,” he added, noting that the travel advisory was “common sense.” It’s “time for personal responsibility.”
“The Northeast region has taken this seriously,” Lamont said. This is “what we have to do for our region to stay safe.”
New York has reached its lowest COVID-19 numbers in months. There are currently 1,071 hospitalizations in the state and there were 17 deaths in the past 24-hours. The “numbers look good,” said Cuomo.
Long Island moved into Phase 3 reopening today.
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