Illinois was one of three states added to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut's joint list of states requiring travelers to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.
Illinois, Kentucky and Minnesota, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, were among the latest newcomers to the quarantine-restricted list, a joint effort announced last month by Govs. Cuomo, Phil Murphy and Ned Lamont to protect the tri-state's progress against the virus, NBC New York reported.
Tuesday's addition brought New York's order to a total of 34 states, including: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
According to the quarantine guidelines, travelers coming into the tri-state area from states averaging daily positive test rates of 10 percent or 10 new cases per 100,000 residents over a seven-day rolling period must self-isolate.
Cuomo recently implemented a new mandatory health form for travelers landing at New York's airports to try to better enforce compliance with the quarantine in the Big Apple.
Failure to submit the form, which is also required for hotspot travelers who arrive in New York by other transmit means, could result in a $2,000 fine. The governor initially said hotel clerks or business partners could alert officials about violations, and that police officers who pull over out-of-state individuals for traffic infractions could enforce quarantine rules. It's not clear how many in total have been fined.
Illinois' addition to New York's travel order came the same day the city of Chicago updated its own quarantine list to add four new states, including Wisconsin.
Chiago's order requires anyone visiting or returning to the city from one of now 22 states to self-quarantine for 14 days.
According to the mayor's office, Wisconsin, Missouri, North Dakota and Nebraska are all being added to the order, effective Friday.
According to city health officials, essential workers and those commuting from Wisconsin to Chicago for the purpose of work will be exempt from the quarantine, but will be asked to follow these requirements:
- They must limit their activities to work-related activities and functions that directly support their work, and avoid public spaces as much as possible.
- They should monitor their temperature and for any symptoms, wear a face covering when in public, maintain social distance, and clean and disinfect workspaces.
- They are required, to the extent possible, to avoid extended periods in public, contact with strangers, and large congregate settings.
The order will apply to anyone coming from Wisconsin to Chicago for "non-work purposes" as well as Chicago residents returning from Wisconsin who are not deemed essential workers, the city said.
Exceptions can be made for those traveling for medical care and parental shared custody. Anyone traveling through Wisconsin on their way to Chicago from a state not on the travel order will not need to quarantine if they were in Wisconsin for less than 24 hours, officials said. Still, non-essential workers who travel to Wisconsin, even for less than 24 hours, will need to quarantine upon returning, the city said.
Chicago's mayor had announced Monday that Wisconsin was being added to the list this week, but noted that the city was also watching its neighbors "very carefully."
"I think Chicago, we are doing well because we were extremely prudent when we started to reopen up," Lightfoot said. "We didn't go as large with capacity, for example, as other areas across the country. So what we're seeing is cities and towns, particularly across the south through the southwest and on to California are really having significant struggles now because many of those communities took a very different approach to the one that Chicago took. We're also seeing an increase in states around us. Wisconsin, for example, is going to go on our quarantine list later this week."
The city's travel order is evaluated every Tuesday, with any additions taking effect the following Friday. States are added to the list if they have "a case rate greater than 15 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 resident population, per day, over a 7-day rolling average."
Other states included are: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.
The order is set to remain in effect until further notice.
The order was announced earlier this month as states across the U.S. continue to see surges of coronavirus cases, many shutting down bars and restaurants in an effort to quell or prevent a spike.
New cases have surged in several states across the nation, setting new records, driven mostly by expanding outbreaks in the American South and West.
Still, outside of Chicago, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the state likely won't require residents who travel to and from neighboring states to quarantine for two weeks solely because of that travel.
"We don't live in a country where you close the borders between states," Pritzker said during the governor's coronavirus briefing. "And we're not going to stop people who live in Illinois and work in Wisconsin from doing so."
