RI First New England State Added To CT, NY Quarantine Lists

PROVIDENCE, RI — Travelers from Rhode Island will be required to quarantine for 14 days if they travel to Connecticut or New York, the two state governments announced Tuesday.

The state is the first in the Northeast to be added to the quarantine requirement, which includes most of the United States and Puerto Rico.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced the change Tuesday afternoon, adding that Washington, D.C. and Delaware no longer fall under the quarantine requirement. The full list is available online.

According to the state's website, quarantine requirements apply to "[any] state that has a new daily positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents or a state with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average."

Rhode Island has similar restrictions in place for 33 states and Puerto Rico, none of which are in New England.

According to the latest data from the Rhode Island Department of Health, the state had a 2.7 percent positive rate on Monday and reported 123 new cases and one death Tuesday. While the state remained in a plateau of new coronavirus cases for several weeks, health officials and Gov, Gina Raimondo voiced concerns about recent spikes in cases traced back to large social gatherings without masks or social distancing.

Because the state's r-value, which represents rate of spread, was higher than the benchmark of 1.1 on July 29, Rhode Island will stay in phase three of reopening until the end of August, Raimondo said, and social gathering limits were lowered from 25 to 15.

"There is too much transmission going on right now, particularly tied to the social gatherings," said Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, the director of the Department of Health. "Wearing masks is critical. Wearing masks is key ... Too many people have told us they could have done better ... Too many young people are identified multiple, multiple contacts."