Governor Cuomo issued an executive order at the end of June requiring visitors from certain states to quarantine for 14 days.
And now, they are cracking down on that requirement even further. Mayor de Blasio announced today that the city will be implementing “checkpoints” at key entrance points like major bridges and tunnels, and Penn Station, to “ensure compliance with New York State quarantine requirements.”
Along with filling out a New York State Department of Health traveler form, these requirements (for non-essential workers) include:
- Staying in their residence or in a hotel room, leaving only for essential medical appointments or treatment or to obtain food and other essential goods when the delivery of food or other essential goods to their residence or hotel is not feasible;
- Not inviting or allowing guests, other than caregivers, into their quarantined residence or hotel room; and
- Self-monitoring for symptoms of COVID-19 and seeking appropriate medical advice or testing if COVID-19 symptoms arise.
If travelers are caught not quarantining, they are subject to a $10,000 fine. If they refuse to fill out the form, they are subject to a $2,000 fine.
“New Yorkers have worked too hard to beat back COVID-19 — we cannot lose that progress. 35 states have dangerously high infection rates,” the Mayor said. “We won’t let the virus spread here.”
NYC’s COVID-19 infection rate has been under 3% for the past two months. Most of the other parts of the country, however, have been seeing dangerous spikes in cases and deaths in recent days. The states on the quarantine list have a “positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a 7-day rolling average or an area with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average.”
The 35 states that currently applies to (as of Aug. 4) are:
- Alaska
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Arizona
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Iowa
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Mississippi
- Montana
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Nebraska
- New Mexico
- Nevada
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Puerto Rico
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
- Wisconsin
See also: NYC Is So Hot, It’s Officially Considered A ‘Subtropical’ Climate Zone
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