CT Coronavirus: Trump Says Quarantine Not Needed, Advisory Issued

CONNECTICUT — President Donald Trump on Saturday night said there will be no quarantine for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut but he asked the Center for Disease Control to issue a "strong Travel Advisory" for all three states.

The travel advisory was officially approved around 10 p.m. Saturday.

"On the recommendation of the White House CoronaVirus Task Force, and upon consultation with the Governor’s of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, I have asked the @CDCgov
to issue a strong Travel Advisory, to be administered by the Governors, in consultation with the Federal Government. A quarantine will not be necessary. Full details will be released by CDC tonight. Thank you!"

Trump on Saturday afternoon said he was considering a short-term "quarantine" for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut due to a surge of positive coronavirus tests there. The news was met with shock by the governors including Connecticut's Ned Lamont, who said they had no idea what Trump was talking about and had no clue what a "quarantine" might entail.

Earlier Saturday evening, Lamont said, he believed Trump to be "thinking out loud."

Trump spoke to reporters Saturday afternoon about the possibility.

"Some people would like to see New York quarantined because it's a hotspot — New York, New Jersey," Trump said. "Maybe one or two other places; certain parts of Connecticut quarantined. I'm thinking about that right now."

Trump appeared to clarify his words later, saying he was talking about restricting traveling from those states.

"Because they’re having problems down in Florida," he said. "A lot of New Yorkers are going down. We don’t want that. Heavily infected."

Trump added that this "would be an enforceable quarantine. And, you know, I'd rather not do it, but we may need it."

However, as of early Saturday evening none of the tri-state governors appear to know much more than the general public about Trump's thoughts.

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Caught off-guard

Lamont like the other tri-state governors was caught off-guard by Trump's off the cuff comments.

“...words matter and those words created a certain amount of confusion and when you lack clarity that can create confusion and confusion can lead to panic,”Lamont said at a news conference Saturday evening.

Lamont said he had conversation with a "high-level" White House official about Trump's comments. He hopes to get more clarification by the end of Saturday night from the White House. Lamont said the "high-level" official wasn't Trump.

Connecticut reported 225 new confirmed coronavirus cases Saturday along with six more deaths and 32 more hospitalizations. Related: CT Coronavirus Updates: 33 Deaths, 1,524 Positive Cases

'Quarantine' would be impossible, Lamont says

Enforcing a quarantine would be impossible as there are many roads in and out of New York, Connecticut and New Jersey aside from the major highways, Lamont said.

Words like "quarantine" conjure up images of the Wuhan province in China which had one of the world's strictest lockdowns related to the coronavirus. Lamont noted that there was a mass exodus of people there when a quarantine was mentioned

"If you care as much as the president does about getting this economy going again you’ve got to be very careful about what you say and what you don’t say," Lamont said.

Lamont said he hopes there is more clarity on the issue as soon as possible.

"I urge them to do that now before thinking out loud again,” Lamont said.

Lamont's comments were more measured than his New York counterpart Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

"This would be a declaration of war on states, a federal declaration of war," Cuomo said on CNN.

State Attorney General William Tong echoed Lamont's sentiments.

"Off the cuff comments by the President, made without necessary coordination with Governors on the front lines of this crisis—are not helpful," he said. "As we have been since day one of this crisis, the Office of the Attorney General is in close coordination with the Governor’s office to support our state efforts to protect public health and safety here in Connecticut.”

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, also worried about the level of confusion caused by Trump's comments.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an order Monday requiring all incoming airline passengers from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to self-quarantine for 14 days. Since then some other governors have followed suit in mandating travelers from New York self-quarantine.

Trump later tweeted his thoughts about the potential restrictions.

Lamont said during a radio interview Friday that he would have state police pull over cars with New York plates if necessary. Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo ordered state police troopers to pull over cars with New York license plates to get information about occupants.

• Read more: Coronavirus: CT Governor 'Would' Stop NY Drivers

"If you come to this state, until you know you're healthy, I'm ordering you to self-quarantine, how about that," Lamont said Friday.

Lamont issued a series of executive orders to limit unnecessary travel and gatherings. On Thursday, he ordered limiting social and recreational gathers to five or fewer people and suspended the plastic bag tax. He also ordered firearm transactions to be done by appointment only.

Lamont ordered restaurants to have as much contactless payment and pickup as possible. He ordered schools to be closed until at least April 20 and said it's possible they will stay closed longer than that.

As of Friday, Connecticut has 1,291 confirmed coronavirus cases. A total of 752 are in Fairfield County, which has 15 of the state's 27 coronavirus-related deaths and 68 of the state's 173 hospitalizations.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he recently spoke to Trump, but there was no mention of a quarantine.

"I didn't speak to him about any quarantine ... I don't even know what that means," Cuomo said.

Patch has reached out to Lamont's office for comment.

— With reporting by Tom Davis, Patch staff