New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday shot down the prospect of fining travelers from COVID-19 hot spots if they don’t provide contact information to health officials.
The first-term Democrat spoke about the new proposal made Monday by fellow Democrat New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo that would impose such a fine.
“New York and New Jersey do things a little bit differently,” Murphy said during a radio interview on 104.3-FM. “I don’t know that we will be fining people.”
New Jersey joined New York and Connecticut last month in advising travelers from states with outbreaks that they’ll need to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival. Twenty-two states are now restricted; four more were added to the list Tuesday while the Garden State's neighbor Delaware was removed.
The advisory includes states if their seven day rolling average of positive tests exceeds 10%, or if the number of positive cases exceeds 10 per 100,000 residents.
New York’s policy says airport travelers from those states face a $2,000 fine if they leave the airport without filling out a contact tracing form. Impacted travelers could face a hearing and an order requiring mandatory quarantine, under a new state emergency health order issued Monday.
Murphy has said he lacks the constitutional authority to block travelers from coming to the state. Instead, he has called for people to be behave responsibly.
