Quarantine states list hits 19

Delaware is 1st added from Northeast; CT records day with zero virus deaths

On a day when Connecticut reported no new coronavirus fatalities for the first time since mid-March, the list of states from which travelers must quarantine in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut grew to 19 and expanded to the Northeast.

Delaware and two other states, Oklahoma and Kansas, were added Tuesday to a quarantine advisory for anyone visiting or returning from states with high COVID-19 infection rates.

No state was dropped from the previous list of 16 with high rates of infection growth, Gov. Ned Lamont and the governors of New York and New Jersey announced. Two weeks ago they ordered people coming from those states to isolate for 14 days or test negative for the illness.

The list of states in the quarantine advisory also includes Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.

Delaware, a popular weekend destination known for its beaches and tax advantages, is within a few hours’ drive from most of Connecticut, indicating the virus is creeping back toward the Northeast.

Hours after that news, the zero-death day brightened spirits in Connecticut, which has eyed the national COVID-19 surge warily as it reports low infection rates and declining hospitalizations and deaths in recent weeks.

“I did talk to a number of the airlines, and they’ve had double the number of cancellations that they have anticipated. There are many fewer people coming from Florida, Arizona, South Carolina, now even California than there was before.”

Gov. Ned Lamont

“On a very positive note, for the first time in months there were zero COVID-related fatalities in Connecticut,” Lamont said in New Haven. “Zero COVID-related fatalities. That’s really thanks to each and every one of you.” The crowd, including Mayor Justin Elicker, state Rep. Toni Walker and officials from the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, applauded and cheered.

Since the first death on March 17,Connecticut has reported 4,338 COVID-19-related fatalities, most of them in nursing homes.

Tuesday did bring a net increase of 14 hospitalizations, for a total statewide of 83 — a small warning for the state to continue the extensive social distancing and mask wearing that has made it a national leader in trying to squelch the virus.

Lamont recalled that on April 22, there were 1,972 COVID-19 patients hospitalized. The latest increase reflects the fact that Connecticut has reached a sort of floor below 100, and may see hospitalizations rise and fall within a narrow range.

About 20 to 30 people a day are admitted into hospitals for COVID-19 treatment, Lamont said, and the number discharged has been higher than that since the peak. Tuesday’s uptick does not reflect an increase in admissions, he said.

“Not that many people were discharged,” he said Tuesday during a news conference outside the Community Foundation. “And that’s going to happen a lot. To me it’s a less-important metric today than it was two months ago, when I really worried that our ICUs could be overwhelmed.”

The travel warning, implemented two weeks ago, is mostly voluntary in Connecticut. New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo has threatened fines for noncompliance.

Lamont said this week that travel from out-of-state visitors has declined since the quarantine.

“I did talk to a number of the airlines, and they’ve had double the number of cancellations that they have anticipated,” Lamont said. “There are many fewer people coming from Florida, Arizona, South Carolina, now even California than there was before.”

Lamont said the three states have pushed social media advertising about the advisory in infected states such as Florida, Arizona and Texas, garnering more than 1 million impressions. The advisory is announced in every airport in the region, and on every flight, and New York’s John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports require visitors from covered states to sign a form stating their plans for quarantine.

“I think people know that this region, not just Connecticut, is being very strict on the quarantining and it is discouraging a lot of out-of-state visitation from those states,” Lamont said.

He said there is no plan to add a testing site at Bradley International Airport, though that had previously been discussed. There are more than 130 testing sites in the state.

“Anyone who needs a test doesn’t have to travel far to get one,” said Josh Geballe, the state’s chief operating officer, who said he’s not aware of any major airports with testing.

States are added to the list based on two criteria — a new daily positive test total higher than 10 per 100,000 residents or a 10 percent or higher positive test rate over a 7-day rolling average.

Also Tuesday, Connecticut logged a 1 percent testing rate — 57 positive tests out of 5,745 — continuing a positive trend. A rate of 10 percent or more, the threshold for states to be on the quarantine list of Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, is considered high.

The first reporting cycle without fatalities — from late Monday afternoon to late Tuesday afternoon — since the week of March 16 is testament to the seriousness with which state residents have tried to discourage the spread of the virus, Lamont said.