What to Know
- California is one of 16 states on a quarantine list for three Northeast states, including hard-hit New York and New Jersey.
- The order means travelers from California to those states must quarantine for 14 days after arrival.
- New York's governor says non-compliance may be deemed a violation of the public health law and subject to a civil penalty of up to $10,000.
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut imposed a 14-day quarantine on all travelers from California Tuesday as the nation's most populous state grapples with a spike in new coronavirus cases and other unsettling statistics.
California was one of eight states added to the tri-state quarantine list, which was introduced last week. The list now has 16 states as pandemic numbers soar in several regions.
“As an increasing number of states around the country fight significant community spread, New York is taking action to maintain the precarious safety of its phased, data-driven reopening,'' New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. “We've set metrics for community spread just as we've set metrics for everything the state does to fight COVID-19, and eight more states have reached the level of spread required to qualify for New York's travel advisory, meaning we will now require individuals traveling to New York from those states to quarantine for 14 days.”
The quarantine applies to any person arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a 7-day rolling average or a state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average.
The states added Tuesday were California, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada and Tennessee. They join Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.
Visitors from states on the list are asked to self-quarantine once they arrive. Cuomo's office said non-compliance with the quarantine order may be deemed a violation of the state's public health law and subject to a civil penalty of up to $10,000.
U.S. & World
Coronavirus Deaths in Your City and State — and Across the US
These charts use daily coronavirus death data from Johns Hopkins University to show the seven-day moving average of deaths at the city, state and country level.
The impact of coronavirus varies enormously in the United States from one place to another.
Source: Johns Hopkins University.
Credit: Visuals by Amy O’Kruk/NBC, data analysis by Ron Campbell/NBC
New York and New Jersey are two of the nation’s hardest-hit states in the pandemic. New York was losing about 800 people a day at the height of the crisis in April.
The region is looking to avoid a slide back to the crisis situation of earlier this year.
"Our numbers have come way down, probably as much as any American state, but we paid a huge price," New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said on “The Today Show” Tuesday. "We've gone through hell. The last thing we want to do is go through hell again."
On Tuesday, the nation’s top infectious disease expert told a Senate committee that several key metrics are heading in the wrong direction. Dr. Anthony Fauci said new daily cases could soar to 100,000 if the situation doesn’t change.
Currently, daily U.S. totals are about 40,000 cases.
