A new warning has been issued by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) but only for certain residents in three states. The CDC now urges residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to refrain from non-essential domestic travel for 14 days effective immediately.
Like most other travel advisories, this does not apply to employees of critical infrastructure industries, including but not limited to trucking, public health professionals, financial services, and food supply.
The governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut will have full discretion to implement this Domestic Travel Advisory.
This warning comes after the governor of New York and the President have been going back-and-forth about a potential mandatory quarantine for the region.
The governor of New York vehemently opposed a mandatory quarantine for New York and argued that in addition to being illegal, it would be catastrophic for the economy as a whole.
There were also issues with Rhode Island tracking down cars with New York license plates and trying to force them to quarantine for 14 days. The governor of New York also suggested that this restriction on interstate travel was illegal.
It seems like behind closed doors there were some talks and the President backed off that mandatory quarantine talk and this new CDC warning followed.
New York has the most coronavirus cases in the US by far. And now that the US leads in the total number of cases in the world, New York is essentially the epicenter of this outbreak worldwide.
Because of that, other states are worried about New Yorkers fleeing their state and heading to others for a safe haven. We have already seen states like Texas and Florida impose a mandatory quarantines for people arriving by air travel from New York and surrounding areas.
We will see if additional states follow in the future but it seems like this warning is directed at working from the opposite end by restricting or discouraging travel from the states.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
