New York, New Jersey, Connecticut restrict travel from California due to coronavirus cases

Californians looking to visit New York, New Jersey or Connecticut will be expected to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival.

The restriction applies to any state with a COVID-19 positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a rolling seven-day average, as well as any state with a 10 percent or higher positive test rate over a seven-day period, according to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office.

California is among 16 states now under such travel restriction, along with Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.

“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,” Cuomo said in a statement. “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.”

California has had 216,550 COVID-19 cases, according to the latest data from the California Department of Public Health. That includes 5,936 fatalities.

The order does not apply to people who are just passing through the states, such as drivers stopping at rest stops or people experiencing an airline layover.

This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 12:21 PM with the headline "New York, New Jersey, Connecticut restrict travel from California due to coronavirus cases."