Welcome to the fourth episode of the Travel Well with Allan Wright!
Last week Allan discussed country travel restrictions, this week he explains the state by state travel restrictions that have come into place within the United States.
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Can’t watch the video right now? Here’s the video transcript of State Travel Restrictions – Episode 4:
Hi, this is Allan Wright. Welcome to the Travel Well with Allan video update. Last week, we talked about what other countries are doing to restrict or encourage tourism right now. This week, I’d like to talk about what states are doing in terms of state travel restrictions.
The big news, of course, is that New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut have banded together to impose two-week quarantines on travelers from 16 different states or residents of these three states who are traveling to those states and returning. These are based on data infection rates in those states and are enforceable. This is a quarantine that’s enforceable with a $10,000 fine if you’re told to quarantine and you choose not to do so. It’s going to be tough to enforce but at the same time, it certainly is going to have its intended effect and reduce travel.
The interesting thing, of course, is that Florida back in March imposed a similar quarantine on those same three states which back then made sense. However, on June 5th, the Florida governor extended those quarantines which seems to be really at this point more about politics than it does about health since it’s not based on any data.
Other states are doing quarantines as well based on data. Vermont’s a good example but their’s this based on counties and so they’ve got a list of 12 states in the Northeast. If you can drive to Vermont and you’re from a county that has a low infection rate, you can come in without a quarantine. The result ultimately is that all the big cities and all the major population centers are not included in that freedom to go in without a quarantine. So it’s a lot of geography and not a lot of people that are allowed to go to Vermont right now.
There are other states Alaska, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Maine that have taken the approach of testing. If you can show a negative test result for the coronavirus then you can enter. The problem with that while the tests, it’s not quite clear how accurate they are if you are asymptomatic and yet actually have the virus so until we can get better tested that show than it’s not foolproof. However, it will certainly catch the people who have symptoms or show up positive on the tests. So that’s a step in the right direction.
There are many states that aren’t doing anything. Illinois is one of those and that has led Chicago to take up its own action and now has its own two-week quarantine imposed on travelers coming in from 15 different states.
So what’s the next, the ultimate result of all this in the United States? We are in a travel quagmire, there is no national policy whatsoever we have to deal with everything on a state by state, county by county, and city by city basis. So traveler beware. If you want to travel within the United States, you need to do the research and make sure you know what the restrictions are in your area what they are where you’re going and can you safely travel.
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