NJ Expands Coronavirus Quarantine As New Reopenings 'Paused'

Tom Davis
Updated ·3 min read

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey on Tuesday added three more states to its travel advisory amid a resurgence of coronavirus outbreaks across the country. New Jersey added the states as Gov. Phil Murphy said the Garden State will have to push "pause" on future reopening announcements since the region has backslid in its handling on the crisis.

And if you're going south, you may find the route is very difficult because of the expanded quarantine order (see list below).

Murphy said Delaware, Kansas and Oklahoma now meet the state's metrics to qualify for the advisory. A total of 19 states are now included in the advisory, which asks travelers to quarantine for 14 days.

The quarantine applies to any person arriving from a state with a positive coronavirus test rate higher than 10 residents per 100,000 over a seven-day rolling average, or a state with a 10 percent or higher positive rate over a seven-day rolling average.

The announcement comes as New Jersey has backslid in its handling of the coronavirus, with out-of-state travelers helping to raise the Garden State transmission rate to its highest level in 10 weeks. Read more: Gov. Murphy Issues NJ Coronavirus Warning As State Backslides

Even though New Jersey has reopened much of its economy, Murphy said during his Monday news conference that he's not going to be ready to announce any more reopenings — beyond what's already scheduled — until the Garden State has the situation totally under control.

"We're not going to be jumping the gun on a whole lot more opening-up steps right now," Murphy said. "We are where we are right now, and my guess is that we are going to be there for a bit."

That would include indoor dining, which was supposed to reopen this month but was postponed. Read more: Gov. Murphy: 'Hard Dates' In NJ Coronavirus Reopening Blueprint

“Several outbreaks across New Jersey are directly tied to travel from COVID-19 hot spots nationwide,” Murphy said. “In order to responsibly continue down our road back to restart and recovery, we must remain vigilant in our collective effort to beat the virus and reduce the rate of transmission. I urge those arriving from one of these 19 states to self-quarantine and get a COVID-19 test to prevent additional flare-ups across the state and ensure the health and safety of their fellow New Jerseyans.”

Here are the states:

  • Alabama

  • Arkansas

  • Arizona

  • California

  • Delaware

  • Florida

  • Georgia

  • Iowa

  • Idaho

  • Kansas

  • Louisiana

  • Mississippi

  • North Carolina

  • Nevada

  • Oklahoma

  • South Carolina

  • Tennessee

  • Texas

  • Utah

New Jersey expects that people will follow the public health advisory to self-quarantine; it's not required.

Travelers and those residents who are returning from impacted states should self-quarantine at their home, hotel or other temporary lodging. People should leave the place of self-quarantine only to seek medical care/treatment or to obtain food and other essential items.

Travelers and residents returning from impacted states typically will not need to check in with public health officials, unless otherwise they are involved in contact tracing efforts or required to do so by their employer or any other federal, state or local law or order.

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This article originally appeared on the Toms River Patch