NJ Expands Coronavirus Travel Quarantine To 31 States

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey on Tuesday added 10 more states to its travel advisory — and removed one — as the resurgence of coronavirus outbreaks continues across the country.

Once again, if you're going south, you may have to find a circuitous route in order to comply with the expanded quarantine order, since Delaware is back on the list. And you may have issues with traveling anywhere else in the country, since the list has expanded to 31 states (see list of states below).

Gov. Phil Murphy said Alaska, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Virginia and Washington now meet the state's metrics to qualify for the advisory, while Minnesota no longer does. A total of 31 states are now included in the advisory, which "demands" travelers to quarantine for 14 days.

Murphy, however, said he will not follow New York's lead and consider fining people if they don't fill out paperwork after traveling from a high-risk state. He said New Jersey's travel advisory is voluntary, although he is "demanding" that people follow the quarantine rules.

The update comes as New Jersey has largely contained the outbreak, even though the Garden State is still debating what to do about reopening schools in the fall. Murphy says he plans to reopen them, but all that could change if New Jersey's cases spike up again. Read more: NJ Coronavirus, Reopen Updates: Here's What You Need To Know

New Jersey has had some recent local outbreaks, but Murphy said some of them were connected to out-of-state travel.

The quarantine applies to any person arriving from a state with a positive coronavirus test rate higher than 10 residents per 100,000 over a seven-day rolling average, or a state with a 10 percent or higher positive rate over a seven-day rolling average.

“It is critically important that all New Jerseyans remain committed to beating COVID-19 by remaining vigilant and continuing our collective efforts to reduce new cases and the rate of transmission throughout the state,” Murphy said. “In order to prevent additional outbreaks across New Jersey and continue with our responsible restart and recovery process, I strongly encourage all individuals arriving from these hot spot states to proactively get a COVID-19 test and self-quarantine.”

Here are the states:

• Alaska
• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Arizona
• California
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Iowa
• Idaho
• Indiana
• Kansas
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Virginia
• Washington
• Wisconsin

Travelers and residents who are returning from impacted states should self-quarantine at their home, hotel or other temporary lodging, Murphy said. That includes people who left New Jersey, visited one of the states and then returned.

People should leave the place of self-quarantine only to seek medical care/treatment or to obtain food and other essential items.

Travelers and residents returning from impacted states typically will not need to check in with public health officials, unless they are involved in contact tracing efforts or required to do so by their employer or any other federal, state or local law or order.

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