Drivers Into City To Be Stopped At Quarantine Checkpoints: Mayor

NEW YORK CITY — A new checkpoint program will stop and "educate" travelers into New York City about the state's mandatory quarantine requirements, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced.

The checkpoints will begin Wednesday at major bridge and tunnel crossings into the city, de Blasio said.

They will help ensure that travelers from and New Yorkers who visited 35 states with high coronavirus infection rates follow the state's 14-day quarantine, he said.

"The idea is we don't want to penalize people, we want to educate them, we want to make sure they're following the rules," he said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo instituted the high-risk state quarantine — which has kept growing — as a way to stop the coronavirus' spread back into New York from virus hot spots.

The rules require travelers and New Yorkers who visited those designated states to quarantine themselves for 14 days. But while officials require airport travelers to fill out contact forms and laid down $10,000 penalties for violations, Cuomo has lamented that enforcing compliance is all but impossible.

A fifth of New York City's new coronavirus cases have come from travelers coming from other states, said Ted Long, who heads the city's "Test and Trace" program.

De Blasio's announcement appears to be an attempt to add teeth to the quarantine rule in New York City, once the country's coronavirus epicenter.

The city's Sheriff's Office will run the checkpoints, with help from other law enforcement agencies, said Sheriff Joseph Fucito.

Checkpoints will be placed at varying major bridge and tunnel entry points into the city, Fucito said. He said a random selection of vehicles will be pulled over so as not to discriminate against people from other states or otherwise violate rights.

"Let's say it's every sixth vehicle, or every eighth vehicle," he said. "We determine something at the beginning of the day and we stick to that pattern throughout the day and that is how the checkpoint will be conducted at different locations."

Fucito said officials hope to avoid stops or locations that will affect traffic.

Officers and city public outreach staff will tell travelers about the state's quarantine rules and encourage them to fill out health forms, officials said.

The city will also reach out to travelers at Penn Station starting Thursday.

Long said the city's Test and Trace program will call travelers about the quarantine and offer help with getting through the mandatory quarantine. He said they offer free food delivery, assistance getting medication, connections with doctors over the phone and even a hotel stay.