Connecticut newspaper: Quarantine Floridians
If you get on a plane at Bradley International Airport to head down to Florida, you’ll need to self-quarantine for two weeks when you get there. Gov. Rick DeSantis, who would be well advised to pay closer attention to what’s happening within his own borders, extended that order on June 5.
But if you hop a flight from Miami or Orlando to Connecticut, you can walk off the plane and head straight to one of the newly opened restaurants, museums or hair salons here. Gov. Ned Lamont does not think it necessary to impose any restrictions on those traveling from the Sunshine State.
Those decisions may have made sense three months ago, when the coronavirus was ravaging the Northeast. But now, the reverse is true. Connecticut has brought its COVID-19 numbers down dramatically, largely through rigorous social distancing and fairly widespread mask-wearing. The number of new infections Thursday was 81 out of an additional 4,722 tests, with new deaths only at seven.
Florida, on the other hand, is out of control and emerging as the nation’s newest hotspot for coronavirus. The state is shattering its own records, posting more than 2,500 new cases of residents a day — and nearly 4,000 cases or residents and nonresidents combined — as the dangers of reopening an economy before getting infection rates under control comes clearly into focus.
This isn’t something to simply sit back and monitor. Connecticut needs to consider taking more serious steps to protect the gains we have made over the last three months.
As states across the nation reopen, travel will increase. New safety measures to deal with the expected surge are already in the works at Bradley, where flights to and from Florida are among the most popular routes. Between noon and 4 p.m. Thursday, there were 15 flights scheduled to land at Bradley. Of those, seven were from Florida. The migration of so-called “snowbirds” from there to here is a documented phenomenon.
Which means Florida’s problem could become our problem. Not to mention Texas, Arizona, California or the other states that have been seeing cases and hospitalizations spike.
We already learned the devastating dangers of failing to get out in front of COVID infections. As coronavirus was raging across Europe, the United States was focused more on restricting travel from China, where the virus first surfaced. By the time colleges and universities desperately began recalling travel abroad students from Europe in early March, it was too late. Most experts now believe the infections that claimed thousands of lives in Connecticut and the Northeast originated in Europe.
So why aren’t we being more protective of our now much safer state borders? Asked the question, deputy state epidemiologist Lynn Sosa said that recommending residents isolate after traveling out of state would only be an effective approach if Connecticut had entirely eradicated the virus from within its borders.
Well, we may still have it here, but all the data suggests that its prevalence in the community has dropped dramatically over the last several months, and it’s in everyone’s interests to keep it that way.
Gov. Lamont should rethink his approach and consider ordering those who have been to high-infection locations, be it overseas or Florida, to quarantine for two weeks. He should also look at tougher rules around wearing masks in all locations where proper distancing cannot be guaranteed.
It’s unfortunate that protecting each other by staying home or wearing masks is seen by too many as a sign of cowardice or weakness. It’s even more unfortunate that that that mindset is being championed by President Donald Trump, who needs to spend less time on the golf course and more time listening to experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci.
There may not be much we can do, for now, about misguided public officials like President Trump or Gov. DeSantis, who insisted despite the surge in Florida: “We’re not rolling back.”
But we’ve worked hard in Connecticut to tamp down the coronavirus. Let’s not drop our guard now.