Starting Aug. 1, anyone coming into Massachusetts through Logan Airport or by car, bus and train will have to prove that they're COVID-19 negative or hunker down.
The mandatory travel order stipulates that all visitors and residents returning to the state from high-risk areas must either quarantine for 14 days or produce negative COVID-19 test results upon return into the state.
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Individuals who have not received COVID-19 test results prior to arrival are required to quarantine until they receive a negative test result.
Additionally, travelers who are over 18 or unaccompanied minors from high-risk areas will be required to fill out the Massachusetts Travel Form.
Violators may face a $500 fine per day.
The new travel rules come in the wake of an increase in summer travel. Transportation officials say they're seeing an increase in the volume of travelers from other states and nations, including hot spots like Florida and California.
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Gov. Charlie Baker says Massachusetts now has a lower average for positive test rates than many other states in the nation, and he wants it to remain that way.
States considered lower risk, and thus exempt from the travel order, include New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont New Hampshire and Hawaii.
Other exemptions to the new travel rules include people passing through, people who commute across state lines for work or school and people coming to the state for medical treatment or military purposes.
Anyone arriving from an international destination will be required to fill out the Massachusetts Travel Form and quarantine for 14 days, unless they can produce a negative COVID-19 test.
National and international travelers will not be required to quarantine for 14 days if they have tested negative for COVID-19 and the specimen was collected no longer than 72 hours prior to arrival in Massachusetts. Additionally, the testing method must be approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
Those who took a COVID-19 test but have not yet received a negative test result must quarantine until they receive a negative result.
For more information on the new travel order and how to properly quarantine, click here: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-travel-order.
