De Blasio on Wednesday announcing the checkpoints. He has not though laid out where they will be or how he will enforce the quarantine once people pass them
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is implementing checkpoints to stop people entering the city from any of the 35 states that are on Cuomo’s mandatory quarantine list and take down their details to enforce it.
Anyone who is caught flouting the rules faces a $10,000 fine.
The rule goes into effect starting Thursday August 6.
De Blasio announced the new rule at a press conference on Wednesday morning but he failed to specifically explain how it would be enforced.
Currently, anyone who enters the state of New York from any of the 35 lists is expected to quarantine for two weeks or risk fines of $2,000 and upwards.
If someone who flouts the quarantine and infects another New Yorker with COVID-19, they face a $10,000 fine, per state rules.
The 34 states on Cuomo’s mandatory quarantine list are; Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin.
The quarantine is currently being enforced with questionnaires.
Travelers are asked to fill out a form before they arrive in New York which tells them if they have to quarantine or not once they arrive.
Some have given fake information then handed the form back and others have circumvented it by driving across state lines or by taking trains.
De Blasio says he will put checkpoints at bridges, tunnels and train stations to identify people who are coming in from out of state at random but he couldn’t give any specific details on how cops would follow through on it.
If someone hasn’t filled out the form, they will be asked to do so.
It’s unclear who will be enforcing it though.
While Sheriff Joseph Fucito said the checks would be random, with every sixth or eight car being checked at tunnels and bridges, train stations are to be manned by contact tracers who are not police.
The form does not require people to give a New York state address.
It only asks for their phone number and email address.
‘We’re not going to be in every apartment,’ de Blasio admitted on Wednesday.
He said that a current ‘challenge’ were ‘folks who are visiting New York City, for whatever reasons, from one of those 35 states’ and ‘New Yorkers who go to one of those states.’
‘Those checkpoints are going to send a very powerful message that this quarantine law is important.
‘Even if we’re not able to reach every single person it’s going to get the message across,’ de Blasio said.
Thirty-five states are currently on the quarantine list meaning if people enter New York, Connecticut or New Jersey from them, they have to quarantine