ALBANY, N.Y. – New York City will identify check-in checkpoints at key entrances, such as bridges and tunnels, so that travelers from states with higher COVID-19 infection rates are quarantined when they cross the border.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that the measure meets New York’s requirement that anyone visiting New York City from 34 states with major coronavirus cases will have to quarantine for 14 days.
City police will intermittently arrest travelers who have traveled from states and ask them to provide dissatisfaction, such as a phone number, while completing a state Department of Health traveler form and telling them to quarantine the property when they enter New York.
People in all 34 states and Puerto Rico are over 40 years old if they plan to do so in New York for more than 24 hours.
The effort began on Thursday and began with an awareness at Penn Station, the country’s busiest exercise station, the mayor said.
Quarantine guide: These states require travelers to self-quarantine or present negative COVID-19 test
“Travelers from those states will get quarantine,” De Blasio announced Wednesday.
“They will be reminded that it is mandatory and optional. They will be reminded that non-compliance with quarantine is a violation of state law, and this is accompanied by serious penalties.”
Travelers who fail to comply may face fines of up to $10,000 if not quarantined, and $2,000 if they do not complete the form, de Blasio said.
The city is adding virtual symptoms at access ports to raise awareness of quarantine as the state tries to control its infection rate, which is now among the lowest in the country after being one of the first hot spots.
New York State has noticed more than 25,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest in the United States, but so far it has been to avoid a new spike as the virus has increased in other parts of the country.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo instituted quarantine last June as the virus spread across the country, and New Jersey and Connecticut adhere to the New York Quarantine List, which is updated every Tuesday.
Last Tuesday, Washington, D.C. and Delaware were removed from the list because their infection rates dropped, however, Rhode Island added.
New York City Sheriff Joe Fucito said the goal was not to target out-of-state residents, but to educate New Yorkers returning home from COVID-19 hot spots and those coming from those states to undertake the 14-day quarantine.
“The way to have an effective checkpoint is to have a random component,” Fucito said.
“The courts have reviewed checkpoints for reasons of public protection, for regulatory reasons. And that turns out to be the most popular thing to avoid discrimination. There are so many vehicles, let’s say it’s one in six or one in eight. “
In addition, states would possibly reopen, but many are not yet easy to quarantine travelers.