EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated with Gov. Phil Murphy’s comments.
Delaware Gov. John Carney isn’t happy his state is back on the coronavirus quarantine travel advisory issued by New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.
“I’m mad as hell, frankly, and it doesn’t make any sense,” Carney said during a news conference Tuesday. “It makes no sense. We’re better today than when we were first put on the list two weeks ago. And we’re better today than we were last week, when we were taken off the list.”
New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut announced last month that they’re calling on travelers arriving from states that qualify as COVID-19 hotspots to self-quarantine for 14 days to help reduce the virus from spreading — including residents returning from a trip.
The number of states increased Tuesday to 31. Delaware, New Jersey’s immediate neighbor to the south, returned to the list after being removed a week earlier.
The quarantine applies to anyone arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents or a state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average. People traveling for business are exempted.
Delaware — which has a population of 897,934, according to the U.S. Census — has had 13,746 residents test positive for the virus and 525 deaths since the beginning of the outbreak. Six New Jersey counties have higher case totals than Delaware, but the outbreak continues to decline in New Jersey while Delaware is averaging more than 100 new cases a day.
Delaware coronavirus dashboard.
Delaware’s rate per 100,000 residents is 14, while the state’s positivity rate is 4.7%, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Carney argued that Delaware is being penalized for its low population and the state’s extensive testing. He noted his state is doing better than others, including Pennsylvania, which is not on the list.
He said he believes the state is back on the list because there were two days this month Delaware recorded more than 100 daily confirmed new cases.
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”As I said to Gov. Cuomo of New York and Murphy last week, we’re going to be on and off, unless we stop testing,” Carney said, referencing Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey. “And we’re not going to stop testing.”
Noting that Delaware’s new deaths and hospitalizations have declined in recent months, Carney argued there should be a “more thoughtful process” to determine who is on the quarantine list.
Murphy on Wednesday said Carney, a fellow Democrat, is “a great governor.”
“The problem with this is: Like everything else, not everyone is happy when you make the calls based on the data and the science,” Murphy said during his latest coronavirus briefing in Trenton. “It is what it is.”
“I wish them nothing but good progress on COVID,” he added about Delaware. “I hope they come off (the list) again and stay off it.”
Quarantining is technically voluntary, and enforcement has been an open question. New York is threatening a $2,000 fine to travelers who arrive at airports and don’t fill out a form with information. Gov. Phil Murphy has said New Jersey isn’t planning on a fine, but has warned that the state Department of Health has the authority to “go after” and “sanction” flagrant violators.
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.