Daniel J. Munoz//July 14, 2020//
The Murphy administration added four more states to its list of COVID-19 hotspots from which travelers into New Jersey should self-isolate for 14 days, even as the governor resists mandating compliance—like is being done in New York.
In a Tuesday announcement, Gov. Phil Murphy added Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin. That makes for a total of 22 states, representing more than half the population of the United States, where the virus has surged.
New Jersey’s orders are voluntary, Murphy said, unlike the $2,000 fines New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he will levy against out-of-state travelers not cooperating with public health officials.
The four new states join Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.
Delaware had previously been a part of the list but was removed.
“We already lived through hell, we don’t want to have to live through hell again,” Murphy said at a Tuesday morning radio appearance on Q104.3’s Jim Kerr Rock & Roll Morning Show.
Other restrictions in New Jersey include a mandate that masks be worn both indoors and outdoors, whenever physical distancing is not possible, such as on boardwalks.
Cuomo said on Monday that air travelers flying into New York have to fill out a questionnaire including their contact info, where they’ve traveled and what their travel plans are, and pledge to self-quarantine before they can leave the airport.
“Travelers who leave the airport without completing the form will be subject to a $2,000 fine and may be brought to a hearing and ordered to complete mandatory quarantine,” reads a statement from his office.
“We’re serious about enforcing quarantine,” Cuomo tweeted earlier that day.
Still, the governor of New Jersey maintained that the two states “do things a little bit differently.”
“I don’t know that we’ll be fining people,” Murphy said on Tuesday morning, ensuring that the administration and public health officials are instead “begging for people’s personal responsibility.”
New Jersey has seen a rebound of the virus, albeit infinitely smaller and slower than surges in states like California, Florida and Texas.
“We expect folks to do the right thing if they’ve been in a hotspot state; to come back in, self-quarantine, get tested, probably get tested again,” Murphy said the day before, at a Monday afternoon press briefing in Trenton.