14-Day Travel Quarantine Coming To NY, NJ, And CT | One Mile at a Time

Not only will Americans likely be banned from visiting most of Europe for quite a while, but we're going to increasingly see domestic travel restrictions as well, as some states see a surge in coronavirus cases.

Tri-state 14-day quarantine requirement

Today it has been announced that travelers arriving in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, from regions with high COVID-19 infection rates, will be subjected to a 14-day quarantine.

BREAKING: NY, NJ, CT governors announce joint travel advisory.

"People coming from states that have a high infection rate must quarantine for 14 days," Gov. Andrew Cuomo announces. https://t.co/OFaLSn3tPa pic.twitter.com/BHluIiB1Da

- ABC News (@ABC) June 24, 2020

We knew that this was being considered, though this is just now officially being confirmed.

Several weeks ago New York had among the highest cases of coronavirus, with some days having more than 10,000 new cases. At this point New York is consistently down to fewer than 1,000 cases per day, while states like Florida are seeing more cases than ever before.

As Governor Cuomo explained this move:

"We worked very hard to get the viral transmission rate down. We don't want to see it go up because a lot of people come into this region and they can literally bring the infection with them."

The reason all three states are introducing this policy at the same time is because "what happens in New York happens in New Jersey and happens in Connecticut."

While many may wonder about the implications of this on the economy, this all comes on the heels of a major economic study that determined that state reopenings have done little to boost the economy. Rather that the bigger issue is that more needs to be done to restore safety and consumer confidence, in order for people to spend more.

Which states will be subject to the quarantine requirement?

The 14-day quarantine requirement will be based on the number of new cases per 100,000 residents in states over the past seven days. This will be adjusted constantly, but for now visitors from the following states will be subjected to the quarantine requirement:

Not that I'm expecting many people to be traveling to these states for fun right now, but the constant updates of states sure makes it impossible to plan future travel there, since you don't know if you'll be subjected to a 14-day quarantine or not.

How will enforcement work?

It also remains to be seen how enforcement of this 14-day quarantine will work. While everyone will hopefully observe this requirement, up until this point we've seen states take very different approaches when it comes to quarantine enforcement.

For example, Hawaii has been the most consistent state when it comes to travel restrictions, as the state has required a 14-day quarantine for several months now. What has set Hawaii apart is that violating the quarantine has been subjected to a $5,000 fine or one year in prison, which has caused people to mostly actually follow the requirement.

Given the lack of responsibility some people show, I think it's safe to say that many people may not obey the quarantine requirement unless the punishments are strict.

Bottom line

New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut are now requiring a 14-day quarantine for visitors from states with high COVID-19 infection rates. I certainly can't blame them...