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NJ And CT Qualify For State Quarantine List But Cuomo Rules Out Enforcement
By
Sydney Pereira
Published Oct 20, 2020
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By
Sydney Pereira
Published Oct 20, 2020
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Virus levels in New Jersey and Connecticut have surged high enough to put the states on New York's restricted travel list—but actively enforcing any quarantines would be impossible, Governor Andrew Cuomo and his team said during a press call Tuesday. Update: Cuomo released a statement reaffirming the relationship that the three states have. [See below]
Connecticut's positivity rate was a little below 2% and New Jersey is a little below 3%—but they both meet the metrics for 10 per 100,000 cases on a seven-day rolling average, qualifying the two neighboring states on the travel restrictions list for New York, according to Beth Garvey, the governor's special counsel and adviser.
But Cuomo said enforcement would be impossible.
"There is no practical way to quarantine New York from New Jersey and Connecticut," Cuomo told reporters. "There are just too many interchanges. There are too many interconnections. There are too many people who live in one place and work in the other. It would have a disastrous effect on the economy."
The same issue exists with Pennsylvania, the governor said.
However, Cuomo said non-essential travel between the three states should be avoided. He said he plans to speak with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont later in the day to work on a plan to help the states keep virus rates down.
Forty-three states now qualify for travel restrictions under New York's quarantine criteria. Arizona and Maryland were added Tuesday. As neighboring state's cases surge, New York is seeing the previous wall of low-infection rates close in while the state battles its own micro-clusters through zoned restrictions, including in parts of Brooklyn and Queens.
Under the order, a quarantine only applies if individuals from high-infection states spend more than 24 hours in New York. It does not apply to essential workers, which covers a broad list of industries from food to the financial sector.
On Monday, Murphy said New Jersey is coordinating with New York and Connecticut "on a whole range of things."
"Number one, my advice is not to travel, frankly, regardless of where you're going," Murphy said. "Number two, we're going to focus on getting our numbers down."
"I don't mean commuting into work and back, although there's a lot less of that than there was eight months ago," he added.
As Connecticut's outbreaks push its COVID numbers higher, Lamont plans to tweak the threshold for travel advisories in Connecticut to lower the number of states on the list so that travel restrictions are more enforceable.
Update: In a statement released Tuesday evening, Cuomo said, “Our states have worked together successfully in combating this pandemic since the beginning and we'll continue to do so. The travel advisory was designed to keep our respective states safe, with the understanding that we are a connected region, dependent on each other when it comes to commerce, education, and health care. We're urging all of our residents to avoid unnecessary or non-essential travel between states at this time, but will not subject residents of our states to a quarantine if coming from a neighboring state. New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut have among the lowest infection rates in the country because we have based our approaches to controlling the spread on science and data, and we will continue to do so."
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Sydney Pereira
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