Kentucky’s governor says he is considering closing the Kentucky-Tennessee border, and checkpoints have been set up in the Florida Keys to restrict access.
“Right now we have an exact risk that we need to address and we have to be very serious, and that risk is called New York City,” Gina Raimondo, governor of Rhode Island, said at a press conference on Friday.
As of Saturday, Rhode Island police officers and the National Guard in the coastal communities will go “door to door” asking people if they have been to New York and requesting their contact information, she said.
Police began surveillance of highways on Friday afternoon and could overtake people with New York state license plates to ask the same questions, particularly on the Newport Bridge base, Raimondo said.
“I feel bad that New York gets such a bad rap record when it̵
7;s really everywhere, you know, it shouldn’t be that way, but unfortunately we have a lot of cases right now,” Koppie told WPRI. She said she planned to return home the same day.All people who have traveled to New York have been quarantined for 14 days. These additional measures will ensure that law enforcement identifies people who should follow the self-quarantine order, said the governor, a democrat.
Individuals can quarantine themselves in a hotel, rental property, summer house, or other place to stay, she said. The punishment for initially violating this order is a fine, and additional violations of the order could result in imprisonment, Raimondo said.
Hotels and landlords will receive this order in writing and are asked to provide the information to their tenants, Raimondo said.
“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think it was necessary,” she said. “If you want to take refuge in Rhode Island, you need to be quarantined … and we, the people of Rhode Island, are planning to enforce it.”
“While the governor may have the authority to suspend some state laws and regulations to address this medical emergency, she cannot suspend the constitution. After the fourth amendment, a New York state license plate is simply not a probable reason and it cannot be . ” “So that the police can stop a car and question the driver, no matter how commendable the goal of the stop may be.”
New York is the epicenter of coronavirus in the United States with more than 44,000 cases and at least 519 deaths on Friday afternoon, according to CNN’s state-to-state count.
Rhode Island reported 203 cases on Friday, the governor said. The state has not reported any deaths.
In the Florida Keys, government officials have set up two traffic control points on top of the Keys that restrict non-residents from accessing the street.
The checkpoints opened on Friday morning and are staffed by officials from the Keys’ Monroe County sheriff’s office. You are at miles mark 112.5 on the Florida Keys Overseas Highway (US 1) and on State Road 905 between Ocean Reef and the access point to US 1 in Key Largo.
The Keys have been temporarily closed to visitors since March 22 due to concerns about the rapid spread of Covid-19. Key officials are unsure how long the checkpoints will remain.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Friday he plans to extend his order to include travelers coming to Florida from Louisiana to do mandatory 14-day self-isolation as New Orleans becomes a potential coronavirus hotspot. The governor said he would suspend the Florida vacation rentals for the next two weeks.
When asked about the order on Friday, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said that DeSantis’s order underscores the seriousness of the problem and encourages people in his state to stay at home.
“I have my hands full here to respond to this crisis, and I will not guess or criticize what other governors are doing or not doing,” said Edwards.
Earlier this week, DeSantis said it would expand its executive order and provide a 14-day self-isolation period for travelers arriving in Florida from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut airports.
In Kentucky, governor Andy Beshear said on Friday he was considering closing the Kentucky-Tennessee border to stop the spread of Covid-19. Kentucky has reported more than 302 cases and seven deaths, and Tennessee reported 1,203 cases with six deaths on Friday evening.
The governor said he had to check what was needed to close the border.
All travelers who do not voluntarily quarantine will be “compulsorily isolated or quarantined by the New Mexico Health Department” according to the order.
In Kansas, the government said travelers from Colorado and Louisiana must quarantine themselves when they arrive in the state.
Kansas has already placed self-quarantine requirements on travelers from Florida, Washington, California, New York, New Jersey and Illinois.