Coronavirus ‘Checkpoints’ in NYC to Enforce Travel Rules? Well, Not Exactly – The New York Times

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“Most checkpoints will be at roadways coming into the city after bridges and tunnels, not on Port Authority property themselves,” Ms. Feyer said.

State and city officials have been warning for weeks about a potential second wave of virus cases driven by travelers from the dozens of states where the outbreak has surged in recent weeks.

In late June, as cases began climbing around the country, New York’s governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, ordered people coming from states with a high percentage of positive coronavirus tests to quarantine for two weeks upon their arrival. As of Tuesday, travelers from 34 states and Puerto Rico are subject to the order.

From the day of its announcement, the measure was met with skepticism about how it could be enforced. Those who violate the quarantine can be subject to fines of up to $10,000 for subsequent violations, but state officials acknowledged that they would not be tracking every person who entered the state.

To boost compliance, the state last month began requiring people disembarking at New York’s airports to fill out a form with their personal information and recent whereabouts or face a $2,000 fine.

Though the state says all travelers should fill out the form, compliance has largely depended on the whims of the people entering the state. Those who entered New York using highways, train stations and buses had not been subject to the same level of scrutiny.

City officials said on Wednesday that the checkpoints will help them monitor potential new outbreaks. They had grown particularly concerned amid an uptick in cases in neighboring New Jersey and regional partners like Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/nyregion/nyc-coronavirus-quarantine-checkpoints.html

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