President Trump dropped his proposal for a two-week quarantine spanning New York, New Jersey, and parts of Connecticut on Saturday, and then promised a “solid travel warning” to be implemented by the three-state governors. “We do not need a lockdown,” Trump tweeted “Full details will be released by CDC tonight. Thank you!”
Vice President Pence revealed the warning on Twitter at 9:17 p.m. and added it to the CDC website. It says: “The CDC advises New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut residents to immediately refrain from non-essential domestic travel for 14 days in turn.”
The governor of the three states “shall have absolute authority to enact this Domestic Travel Advisory.” The CDC notes that the advisory will not extend to “employees of vital infrastructure sectors like, but not limited to, trucking, public health workers, financial services and food supply.”Gov. Cuomo — who on Saturday warned New Yorkers to prepare for a “war” against the coronavirus as the state’s grim death toll climbed — was blindsided by Trump’s earlier bombshell announcement that he was considering a quarantine for the three states.
Cuomo said in an appearance on CNN that Trump’s quarantine proposal “will be a shutdown. Then, we’d be Wuhan, right, China? “China sealed Wuhan from the outside world for weeks when there was coronavirus.
With no input from Cuomo, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy or Mayor de Blasio, Trump released his earlier statement. The president also indicated the clampdown could take place in the area before the end of the weekend, which has emerged as the epicenter of the pandemic’s US branch.
“We’re looking at it and we’re going to make a decision,” Trump said before boarding Air Force One for Norfolk, Va. “A lot of the polluted states — they asked me if I would look at it and we’re going to look at it. Perhaps for a short time.
Trump’s peculiar quarantine order came as New York’s number of coronavirus patients soared over 52,000, highest in the U.S., with 728 deaths nationwide associated with the infection. Approximately 7,300 people, including about 1,800 in intensive care, were hospitalized in New York on Saturday.
“It will be a federal declaration of war against us,” Cuomo said, who spoke with Trump on Saturday before. “That; is not a lockout, it’d be a lockdown. So, we’d be Wuhan, China. I don’t even think it’s legal.
Murphy, who spoke with Trump on Friday in a discussion in which quarantine was never discussed, said his state was preparing to stay the course following remarks from the president.
“We’ll keep doing exactly what we’re doing until further informed because we believe the evidence and the truth are on our side,” Murphy said. Trump also threatened to sue Rhode Island if rumors that the state stopped cars with New York plates to impose its own quarantine law were valid.
