PA Sets Travel Quarantine: Stay Home After Trips To 15 States

Kara Seymour
Updated ·2 min read

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania is instituting quarantine recommendations for residents who travel to areas with increasing levels of COVID-19.

In a news release Thursday, Gov. Tom Wolf said if you travel to the following states, you will need to quarantine for 14 days upon return:

  • Alabama

  • Arizona

  • Arkansas

  • California

  • Florida

  • Georgia

  • Idaho

  • Louisiana

  • Mississippi

  • Nevada

  • North Carolina

  • South Carolina

  • Tennessee

  • Texas

  • Utah

Officials have not said how or if the recommendation will be enforced. When asked about such a travel quarantine earlier in the week, Gov. Wolf was skeptical of a policy due to the difficulty in enforcing it.

The governor's recommendation is similar to the policy announced Wednesday in Philadelphia, where city officials told residents who travel to 15 states that they should quarantine upon return. The key difference is that the state includes Idaho on its list, whereas Philadelphia has Iowa on its list.

This comes as 832 additional positive cases of COVID-19 reported Thursday in Pennsylvania — the highest new case total since May 20.

Pennsylvania now has a total of 88,074 cases, with 78 percent of patients recovered. In total, there have been 6,712 virus-related deaths statewide.

The number of daily coronavirus cases across the United States has soared, hitting record highs this past week and escalating to a staggering 50,700 cases reported in a single day.

Surging cases in new hot spots are prompting leaders in states including Florida, Arizona, Texas and California to close businesses yet again as the country heads into the Fourth of July weekend. Pennsylvania officials said this week they are not considering new statewide closures.

Nationwide, there have been nearly 2.7 million coronavirus cases and more than 128,000 deaths. Globally, there have been more than 10.7 million coronavirus cases and more than 517,000 dead, according to Johns Hopkins University.

This article originally appeared on the Across Pennsylvania Patch