New York, Connecticut and New Jersey will require visitors from states with high infection rates, including Texas, to quarantine for 14 days, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.
"We now have to make sure the rates continue to drop," Cuomo said. "We also have to make sure the virus doesn't come on a plane again."
Texas set all-time highs for COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations Tuesday with 5,489 new cases and 4,092 hospitalizations. The state's positivity index, the percentage of people testing positive for the virus, climbed closer to the red flag threshold of 10% on Tuesday -- a high not seen since early April.
Quarantines for interstate travel are not new. In the early days of the pandemic, in March Texas issued a 14-day quarantine for travelers coming from the northeast, including the New York area, as well as Louisiana as a means to curb the spread of the virus.
Cuomo announced what was called a "travel advisory" at a briefing jointly via video feeds with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, both fellow Democrats.
The states' health departments will provide details of how the rule will work, Murphy said.
The announcement comes as summer travel to the states' beaches, parks and other attractions -- not to mention New York City -- would normally swing into high gear.
Visitors from states over a set infection rate will have to quarantine, Cuomo said. As of Wednesday, states over the threshold were Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, Utah and Texas.
