N.Y., N.J. and Connecticut add three more states, plus D.C. and Puerto Rico, to quarantine list
Arriving travelers walk by a sign in the baggage claim area of Terminal B on June 25, 2020, at LaGuardia Airport in New York. New York, Connecticut and New Jersey are asking visitors from states with high coronavirus infection rates to quarantine for 14 days.
(The Center Square) – Three more states, along with Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, found themselves added Tuesday to a travel advisory created by Connecticut, New Jersey and New York as officials there seek to keep COVID-19 from reemerging in the tri-state region.
The advisory means visitors coming or residents returning from Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota as well as D.C. and Puerto Rico must self isolate for 14 days. Certain exemptions apply, and in New York anyone coming from an advisory state or territory must provide contact information before leaving the airport or face a $2,000 fine.
Govs. Andrew Cuomo of New York, Phil Murphy of New Jersey and Ned Lamont of Connecticut, all three Democrats, initiated the advisory on June 24 with nine states targeted.
A month later, Tuesday’s announcement means 36 states and territories now fall under it.
In addition to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, the other states not on the advisory are Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
States are added when either their positivity rate exceeds 10 percent or higher on a seven-day rolling average or the state reports more 10 cases per 100,000 residents on a seven-day rolling average.
“Our job is to make sure we’re doing everything we can to control COVID, which we are doing,” Cuomo told reporters Tuesday. “Anticipate possible future issues that might come along, and in that regard the future issues that we watch are the infection rate across the country spreading, number one. … On the situation across the nation, it is still very bad.”
As New York works with its regional partners, Cuomo said the state will keep stepping up enforcement within its borders as well.
While that includes monitoring restaurants and bars, it’s now spreading into concerts, too.
Cuomo said Tuesday that the state is investigating a “drive-in” concert Saturday in the Hamptons. Video from the show put on by the one-time hitmaking duo The Chainsmokers showed people outside of vehicles and not abiding by social distancing guidelines.
“The concert that happened in the town of Southampton was just a gross violation of not only the public health rules, it was a gross violation of common sense,” said Cuomo. “It was grossly disrespectful to fellow New Yorkers, and the Department of Health is going to do a full investigation as to why the town of Southampton issued a permit.”
The governor added that other issues have been uncovered within the village of Southampton, which is in the town, and that both village and town officials will be involved in that review.
