IT’S FINE FOR TRAVELING
Gov announces new round of restrictions, hefty penalties
Gov. Charlie Baker is throwing up roadblocks to interstate travel, signing into law a new mandate requiring nearly everyone who enters Massachusetts from Aug. 1 onward to quarantine for 14 days or face being fined $500 a day.
Visitors and returning residents, including college students coming back to campus, will have to fill out an online “Massachusetts Travel Form” and either quarantine for 14 days or submit a negative test result from no more than 72 hours before their arrival here — unless they’re coming from a select few states with low transmission and infection rates.
Those who fail to comply could be slapped with fines of $500 per day — a major escalation of the state’s existing quarantine advisory as Baker looks to prevent the coronavirus surges plaguing the Sun Belt states.
“Every traveler coming to Massachusetts, no matter where they’re from, has a responsibility to help keep COVID-19 out of the commonwealth,” Baker said in a State House press conference. “We have a lower average for positive tests than many states around the country. And we want to keep it that way.”
On Friday just eight states — those with a positive test rate below 5% and a daily average case count below six per 100,000 residents — were exempt from the order: New York, New Jersey, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Hawaii.
Exemptions also apply to military members, those “passing through” the state, or people commuting in for work or medical treatments.
While local public health entities can impose fines, Baker said he’s relying on “the honor system” and a major messaging campaign to help enforce the mandate. Massachusetts companies are also being discouraged from business travel outside of low-risk states.
“We’re not going to be stopping cars, but we’re going to expect people to comply,” he said.
The new rules come as
Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack warned of a “gradual but steady increase in travel since March.”
Pollack said 12,000 people passed through TSA checkpoints in the first few weeks of July, nearly double the 7,000 travelers who did so in June.
And while traffic remains “10% to 15% lower than corresponding 2019 volumes,” Pollack said it’s “far higher than back in April or May.”
Baker also urged people to follow public health guidance after a coronavirus cluster emerged from a Chatham party and the city’s M Street Beach was overrun by crowds that the governor said “simply can’t continue.”
“If people can’t space out and do the things that everyone else is doing with respect to face coverings social distancing and good hygiene, then we’ll have to limit the number of people who can be” at the beach, he said.