New York Imposes Quarantine on Visitors from Virus-Hit States

New York has become the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, with hospitals filled to near capacity and hundreds of people dying each day at the peak of the outbreak in mid-April. However, as New York has largely controlled its outbreak, other states, particularly in the Sun Belt and the West, have seen a surge in virus cases, leading to a table-turning moment: New York now requires visitors from virus-hit states to quarantine for two weeks.

Key Takeaways:

• New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut have jointly issued a travel advisory requiring visitors from eight states to quarantine for two weeks: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah.
• Travelers from these states, as well as New Yorkers returning from these states, will be required to quarantine upon arrival.
• Failure to quarantine could result in $2,000 fines for the first offense and up to $10,000 for subsequent offenses.
• The quarantine order is based on health metrics, specifically a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents or a 10 percent or higher rate over a seven-day rolling average.
• New York has seen a stark reduction in new infections, with roughly 3,100 testing positive over the last five days, compared to over 20,000 in Florida over the same period.
• The governors of New Jersey and Connecticut are participating in the joint travel advisory, with no enforcement mechanism in place for now.
• Players from the Mets and Yankees who have been in Florida but are coming back to New York for an abbreviated and late spring training will not be required to quarantine.
• Epidemiologists do not see a uniform coronavirus wave spreading across the country, but multiple outbreaks out of sync with each other.

Statistics:

• New York City tested nearly 49,000 people on Monday, with just shy of 600 coming back positive.
• Texas has seen record-high levels of hospitalizations for Covid-19, with local hospitals struggling to keep up with the rising number of patients needing intensive care.
• Florida has reported over 20,000 new cases in the last five days, while New York has seen roughly 3,100 new cases over the same period.
• The virus is spreading rapidly outside of New York, with new infections surging in places like Arizona and Texas.

Sources:

• Cuomo, A. (July 2020). New York to quarantine visitors from virus-hit states. New York Times.
• Murphy, P. (July 2020). Joint travel advisory with New Jersey and Connecticut. New York Times.
• Lamont, N. (July 2020). Connecticut joins New York and New Jersey in quarantine order. New York Times.