Effective from midnight tonight, any person arriving in NY, NJ, or CT from a state with significant community spread of COVID-19 will be advised to quarantine for 14-days to protect tri-state residents, with fines up to $10,000 for violators.
The tri-state area —that includes New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut— was once the epicenter of the coronavirus in the country. All individuals traveling from these states had to self-quarantine for two weeks before rejoining society. Now, the situation is flipped. In the United States yesterday, there was a record high of 34,700 new confirmed cases in a single day.
Who must quarantine when arriving at NY, NJ, or CT?
NY Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, NJ Governor Phil Murphy, and CT Governor Ned Lamont issued a joint travel advisory that “all individuals traveling from states with significant community spread of COVID-19 quarantine for a 14-day period from the time of last contact within the identified state.” The three governors established this travel advisory to protect the tri-state residents.
This quarantine —effective starting from midnight tonight— applies to individuals arriving from a state with a “positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents [or] a state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average.”
Some of these states include Florida, Texas, California, Oklahoma, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Utah, where there has been an alarming surge of recent, new infections through community spread. Some waves have grown way higher than their peak in March and April if the situation could exacerbate further.
Violators of joint travel advisory could be fined
As the outbreaks progress or become contained, the travel advisory issued by the NY, NJ, and CT governors will continue to be updated regularly; a list of states to which the new warning applies will be published on their respective websites.
This tri-state advisory will be displayed on highways, airports, websites, and social media across the three states. Hotels will also be asked to communicate the 14-day quarantine to guests who traveled from one of the “impacted states.”
This quarantine —effective starting from midnight tonight— applies to individuals arriving from a state with a “positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents [or] a state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average.”
According to Governor Cuomo, violators in New York could be subject to a mandatory quarantine and fines from $2000 to $10,000.
NY, NJ, and CT Governors work together to protect tri-state residents
Throughout the entire pandemic, Cuomo has been working tooth-and-nail with NJ Governor Murphy and CT Governor Lamont to bring the viral transmission rate down. After this herculean success, they composed this joint travel advisory together to prevent people from traveling into the state with the coronavirus. “In New York, we went from the highest number of cases to some of the lowest rates in the country — no one else had to bend the curve as much as we did and now we have to make sure that the rate continues to drop in our entire region,” attested NY Governor Cuomo.
Over the course of the past few months, the three states have taken aggressive action to flatten the curve and beat back the coronavirus. NJ Governor Murphy said, “As a result of our collective efforts, we have low infection rates, falling hospitalizations, and have steadily been reopening our economies. Unfortunately, many states continue to have high transmission rates. We are proud to work with our partners in New York and Connecticut on a joint incoming travel advisory to ensure continued progress against this virus and to keep residents of the tri-state area safe.”
CT Governor Lamont also contended, “We have made difficult decisions throughout this pandemic, but we have proven to make many of the right decisions. This step to inform travelers from states with hot spots to self-isolate is meant to protect our residents and maintain our incredible public health progress.” The collaborative effort of the three tri-state Governors has led to the states’ exemplary recovery with low infection and positivity rates coupled with increased testing capacity.