New York steps up quarantine enforcement on U.K. visitors

NEW YORK — Travelers coming to New York City from the United Kingdom should expect to hole up in their hotel rooms for a couple of weeks, starting now.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday that the city intends to step up quarantine enforcement on foreign travelers — particularly those coming from England — over concerns about a new, more contagious strain of COVID-19.

“We need people not to travel, but if they do, we are going to be very, very stringent about the rules,” de Blasio said Wednesday.

To enforce the two-week quarantine rules, de Blasio said that effective immediately, people coming into the city from the United Kingdom would receive an order from the city Health Commissioner to quarantine. Those orders will also go out to anyone else coming into or back to the city after traveling outside it, he added.

“That will go out through certified mail so it will be going right to where people live, right to where they’re staying. It’s going to be confirmed they got it, and then people are going to be held responsible,” he said.

In addition, the city plans to dispatch sheriff’s deputies to the homes and hotels of “every single traveler coming in from the U.K.” to confirm that they’re abiding by the quarantine. Failing to comply could result in fines of up to $1,000 per day.

Travelers will be met at airports, train stations and bus depots by sheriff’s deputies and other city officials who will present them with forms and mandatory quarantine orders upon arrival, which will set the monitoring and enforcement process in motion.

The mayor said the city is “working closely” with the state government and Port Authority to enforce its quarantine order, but noted that the city itself has the power to be “very aggressive” in ensuring people follow it.

Forms submitted by travelers submit will be turned over to the state, which in turn sends them to the city to enforce its quarantine, New York City Sheriff Joseph Fucito said.

“Travelers, particularly from the U.K., are being identified at the airport by the Mayor’s Office travel unit,” he said. “The travel unit follows up with the individuals, particularly if they need any assistance.”

De Blasio suggested the fines are not intended as much as a punishment, but more as a deterrent.

“We don’t want to penalize people. Everyone’s been through hell this year. We don’t want to,” de Blasio said. “If you come in, you fill out the form, you follow the quarantine, God bless. If you violate quarantine, $1,000 for the first day. If you violate any day thereafter, $1,000 for each additional day, and we will collect those penalties.”