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Virginia removed from travel advisory lists in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut

Posted at 11:12 AM, Sep 30, 2020
and last updated 2020-09-30 12:32:17-04

VIRGINIA - The state health departments in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut updated their travel advisory lists on Tuesday and removed Virginia from their lists.

The other state removed was Arizona while Colorado was added.

The three states, working together, created the lists as a measure to keep the spread of the coronavirus down once those states reported decreasing case numbers and low positive rates as those numbers increased in other states, like Virginia.

The tri-state area was one of the first known hotspots for the virus when the pandemic started in March.

Virginia was added to the lists on July 21 when the commonwealth saw spikes in COVID-19 cases. The July 4th weekend was a factor blamed for the spike.

NY travel advisory list as of 09292020.JPG
Virginia was taken off travel advisory lists in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut as coronavirus cases in the commonwealth dropped. The list was updated as of Sept. 29, 2020.

The three states monitored the virus's activity in the other 47 states and US territories. As of Tuesday, the Virginia Department of Health reported on its website a 4.6 percent positive rate over the last seven days. The states were added if positive rates exceeded 10 per 100,000 residents or 10 percent of COVID-19 tests over a seven-day period.

Travelers from the impacted states going to either of the three states were required to fill out travel forms either in person or online. The forms asked travelers questions such as where they would stay, for how long, among other questions. Health officials in the three states declared they would communicate with the person to see how that person is feeling and also acknowledged visits would be carried out.

Travelers flying into New York airports were greeted by health officials, were be required to fill out the form, and quarantine for 14 days. Health officials later started greeting travelers coming into New York City by bus or train.

The penalty in New York for violating the quarantine or not filling out the travel form is a $2,000 fine and possibly a possible summons for a hearing. Fines varied in New Jersey and Connecticut.

States such as Maryland and Delaware were removed and then re-added to the travel advisory list based on the coronavirus trends happening there. North Carolina is currently still on the lists.