Cops & inspectors will be out to curb visitors with virus

Beware, out-of-towners, Gov. Cuomo is making a list and checking it twice.

Anyone visiting New York from coronavirus hot spots like Florida and Texas will be subject to “random checks” to make sure they’re self-quarantining for at least two weeks after arrival, Cuomo said Thursday.

“If you fly into New York, we’ll have your name, we’ll know where you’re supposed to be staying — there will be random checks,” the governor said during a morning appearance on CNN.

The checks will be conducted by “inspectors” who may call or show up at the place an out-of-town traveler is staying, Cuomo said.

“And if you’re in violation of the law, you will have a mandatory quarantine, and you’ll be fined,” Cuomo said.

In addition, police officers may pull over drivers with out-of-state plates to see to it that they aren’t violating any quarantine measures, Cuomo said.

Another example the governor offered: “You go to a hospital … and you test positive and you’ve been within the 14 days, you violated the law. You are going to have a problem.”

The quarantine requirements apply to anyone coming from a state with a COVID-19 transmission rate above 10 per 100,000 people on a seven-day rolling average or 10% of the total population testing positive on a sevenday rolling average.

Nine states — Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, Texas, and Utah — currently fit the bill.

Fines for bucking the 14day self-quarantine requirement will be $2,000 for the first violation, $5,000 for the second one and a whopping $10,000 if a person causes “harm,” according to an advisory.

The same restrictions apply in New Jersey and Connecticut.

Cuomo and his neighboring counterparts announced the self-quarantine travel restrictions on Wednesday, as coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths continued to soar in southern states like Florida, which have rushed to reopen their economies and loosened social distancing directives.

Meanwhile, New York’s coronavirus numbers are continuing to trend consistently downward.

On Thursday, Cuomo said the state’s total COVID-19 hospitalizations fell below 1,000 for the first time since March 18.

“Together we bent the curve. And we aren’t stopping now,” he tweeted.

In the CNN appearance, Cuomo said the draconian “random checks” are justified because “we worked very hard in New York” to keep the virus at bay.

“We have the virus under control and we don’t want to see it go up again,” he said. “It’s that simple and people understand that.”

In March, when New York was the global epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak and hundreds of people died every day, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis effectively banned travelers from the Empire State, an order that stoked controversy.

Now that the tables are turned, Cuomo said DeSantis, a Republican, is getting a dose of his own medicine.

“You told the people of your state and you told the people of this country, ‘Don’t worry about it. Just open up, go about your business, this is all Democratic hyperbole,‘” Cuomo said. “It was never politics. It was always science. And they were in denial, and denial is not a life strategy.”