Lamont to ‘rethink’ travel advisory
With Ohio, Michigan, Virginia added, governor’s list of restricted states is now longer than ever
Connecticut added Ohio, Michigan and Virginia to its COVID-19 travel advisory Tuesday, making 36 states from which travel is now restricted — the most at a time since the state implemented its advisory in June.
The three states added Tuesday have all seen recent upticks in coronavirus cases, as the nation’s numbers have surged once again over the past month. The virus has increasingly affected the Midwest region, which had experienced somewhat lower numbers over the summer.
Gov. Ned Lamont said Tuesday that the state might have to “rethink” its travel advisory as more and more states are added and Connecticut itself nears the threshold to qualify.
“Right now it applies to just about everybody except tor those of us in the Northeast, and our numbers are ramping up,” Lamont said. “But I think it’s been a really net positive for the state in terms of discouraging unnecessary travel and when they do travel quarantining and testing.”
Under the advisory, visitors from listed states must fill out a travel form upon arriving in Connecticut, then either present proof
of a negative coronavirus test or quarantine for 14 days. States qualify for the advisory whenthey average 10 or more new coronavirus cases a day for every 100,000 residents or record a positivity rate of 10% or higher over a sevenday period.
Created in partnership with New York and New Jersey, the advisory applies to anyone who visits Connecticut for more than 24 hours after spending more than 24 hours in a listed state. It includes an exemption for critical infrastructure workers who are traveling for business.
After beginning in June with only eight states, Connecticut’s advisory quickly ballooned to more than 30 states, plus territories including Puerto Rico and Guam. After dipping slightly during September as some states recovered from COVID-19 outbreak, it has grown again in recent weeks.
As COVID-19 has begun to reappear in the Northeast, some states in the region have inched closer to qualifying for the travel advisory — in addition to Rhode Island, which has already been listed since Sept. 22. As of Tuesday, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Massachusetts all had experienced at least eight daily coronavirus cases per 100,000 people over the past week, while Connecticut and New York had recorded about seven, up from as few as two at times during the summer.
The states currently on Connecticut’s advisory are: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming