Passengers board an American Airlines flight to Charlotte, North Carolina at San Diego International Airport on May 20, 2020 in San Diego, California.
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy added three more states to their travel restrictions list Tuesday, now requiring people traveling from 19 states to self-quarantine for 14 days if they want to visit the Empire or Garden states.
The coronavirus outbreaks in Delaware, Kansas and Oklahoma are now bad enough for those states to make Cuomo and Murphy’s lists. The travel advisory applies to anyone arriving from a state that has 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 positive rate over a 7-day rolling average.
Sixteen states were already subject to the travel advisory: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.
“In order to responsibly continue down our road back to restart and recovery, we must remain vigilant in our collective effort to beat the virus and reduce the rate of transmission,” Murphy said in a press release. “I urge those arriving from one of these nineteen states to self-quarantine and get a COVID-19 test to prevent additional flareups across the state and ensure the health and safety of their fellow New Jerseyans.”
Cuomo also said in a statement, “New Yorkers did the impossible — we went from the worst infection rate in the United States to one of the best — and the last thing we need is to see another spike of COVID-19.”
The order applies to both visitors and residents of New York and New Jersey returning home from one of the states.
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut first issued a joint travel advisory on June 24 for anyone returning from travel to states with a significant community-wide spread coronavirus infection. The initial order was in place for nine states.
During a news briefing in late June, Cuomo said people who don’t voluntarily quarantine for 14 days will be subject to fines and a mandatory quarantine. He said the fines will be $2,000 for the first violation, $5,000 for the second and up to $10,000 if they cause harm.
