New York Residents Face Fines After Travel to Over 71% of U.S.
New Yorkers could face a big fine or even jail after traveling to 35 states.
On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced additional states and locations meets the metrics to qualify for the travel advisory, requiring individuals who have traveled to New York from those states, all of which have significant community spread, to quarantine for 14 days.
Delaware, Maryland, Ohio and West Virginia meet the metrics to qualify for New York State's COVID-19 travel advisory while Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands have been removed.
The quarantine applies to any person arriving from an area with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a 7-day rolling average or an area with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average.
"Individuals coming from other states continue to be a problem, and today we're adding four more states to New York's travel advisory. We now have 35 high-risk states in this country, which is incredible," Cuomo said. "We're entering a new, different post-Labor Day phase. After Labor Day, people start to get back to work, schools are opening, activity is increasing, colleges are opening, you see traffic starting to increase. So we have to keep that in mind as we move forward and we need to remain vigilant and smart so that we don't backslide."
The full, updated travel advisory list is below:
Alaska
Alabama
Arkansas
California
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Guam
Hawaii
Iowa
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maryland
Minnesota
Missouri
Mississippi
Montana
North Carolina
North Dakota
Nebraska
Nevada
Ohio
Oklahoma
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Wisconsin
West Virginia
The travel advisory also requires any New Yorker to quarantine for 14 days after returning from a state on the quarantine list.
Anyone found violating the quarantine will be subject to a judicial order, placed in a mandatory quarantine and fined, Cuomo added.
“You violate the quarantine, you will have to do mandatory quarantine, and you will be fined," Cuomo said.
According to Cuomo, a person found violating the order could be fined $2,000 for the first violation, $5,000 for a second violation and $10,000 if the person causes "harm."
Cuomo recently announced a travel enforcement operation started at airports across the state to help ensure travelers are following the state's quarantine restrictions and to help contain the rates of COVID-19 transmission in New York State.
Cuomo confirmed travelers will be fined $2,000 if they leave an airport without submitting a contact information form. Information on the form includes contact information and travel plans while in New York. The forms will be handed out online, but can also be filled out online.
The travel advisory doesn't impact essential workers, officials say. Officials also note if you are only passing through a state on the list, meaning you aren't spending more than 24 hours, you also don't have to quarantine.