NY, NJ, CT restrict access to travelers from 16 states due to fear of coronavirus spread

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A lone passenger walks through Newark Liberty International Airport on April 21, 2020 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images)

NEW JERSEY - A mandatory quarantine of 14 days has been extended to travelers entering New York, New Jersey and Connecticut from another eight states, up from the original number when the advisory was first issued last week.

As of Tuesday, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are restricting access to travelers from 16 states including Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.

The states under the travel advisory have seen a significant spread of COVID-19 in recent weeks. 

The restriction requires travelers and those residents who are returning from impacted states to self-quarantine at their home, or a hotel or other temporary lodging.

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

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"As an increasing number of states around the country fight significant community spread, New York is taking action to maintain the precarious safety of its phased, data-driven reopening," Governor Cuomo said. "We've set metrics for community spread just as we've set metrics for everything the state does to fight COVID-19, and eight more states have reached the level of spread required to qualify for New York's travel advisory, meaning we will now require individuals traveling to New York from those states to quarantine for 14 days."

The formula to determine which travelers should quarantine is those coming from states where a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a 7-day rolling average or a state with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average.

The governors of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut issued the initial travel advisory during a joint news conference last week.