Floridians Face 2-Week Quarantine In NY, NJ, Connecticut

MIAMI, FL — Floridians who visit New York, New Jersey or Connecticut and people traveling from the Sunshine State to those three states now face a two-week, self-quarantine when they arrive at the risk of a fine or worse.

"You can violate the quarantine until you get caught. Then when you get caught, you’re in mandatory quarantine and you’re fined thousands of dollars," New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in announcing the measure Wednesday along with his fellow governors from New Jersey and Connecticut.

"You can break the law, and if you don’t get caught, you’re fine, but that’s a big if,” Cuomo added with a chuckle.

Don't miss updates about precautions in Florida as they are announced. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.

Some might consider the quarantine order payback for a similar order issued by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on March 23 for travelers arriving in Florida form New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. He later expanded the order to include people from Louisiana and people who had already been in the state. The Florida order is still in effect, according to the governor's office.

It is also possible some of the same travelers forced to quarantine on the way into Florida will have to quarantine again when they leave.

"I was hit coming," New York psychologist David Cheng told Patch.

Cheng spends most of the year in New York City but he also owns a condo on the beach in Florida, which is where he has chosen to ride out the coronavirus pandemic.

"That's why I'm not planning to go back soon and get hit again," he confided.

Related:

• Florida Sees Staggering One-Day Spike In Coronavirus Cases
• FL Orders NY, NJ, CT Travelers To Self-Quarantine For Coronavirus

Unlike the Florida order, which has been enforced at major airports by the Florida National Guard and Department of Health personnel, the quarantine in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut will be enforced separately by each state and possibly only if authorities learn that someone is in violation.

In New York, the first violation will cost $2,000 while the second violation will cost $5,000. Violators will have to pay $10,000 if they cause any harm, according to Cuomo.

The order affects people coming from states with infection rates above 10 per 100,000 people based on a seven-day rolling average or above 10 percent of the state's total population who test positive on a seven-day rolling average.

In addition to people traveling from Florida, the order also affected people coming from Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington state, Utah and Texas as of Wednesday.

"We’re not an island, and as we look around the rest of the country, we have seen not just spikes, but we’ve seen real community spread," asserted Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont.

New Jersey Gov Phil Murphy noted no other region in the country has paid a larger price in terms of loss of life than the Tri-State area.

"We have taken our people — the three of us, these three states — through hell and back," Murphy insisted. "The last thing we need to do right now is to subject our folks to another round."