BUFFALO, N.Y. — At midnight, travel restrictions started that require anyone coming back to New York from certain states with high infection rates to quarantine for 14 days.
A lot of you have asked us a lot of questions about the travel advisory and what it will mean for your plans. If you come back to New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut from a state where there's a high rate of infection, you're expected to quarantine yourself for two weeks.
One of our viewers, Michelle, wanted to know if this only applies to people coming back to New York City from one of those states. The answer is no. The travel advisory is for the entire state of New York.
Another viewer, Dave, asked: "How will they monitor this after you walk off a plane in Buffalo?" When 2 On Your Side asked the Governor's office Dave's question, we were given transcripts from an interview he did with CNN and his Wednesday press conference.
Here's what we found out. The Governor told CNN, "If you fly into New York, we'll have your name, we'll know where you're supposed to be staying, there will be random checks."
When the CNN anchor asked him what he meant by the random checks, the Governor said, "We know people who fly in. You fly in here from another state, we know what flight you came in on. And we'll have inspectors who are randomly looking at the names on the list and calling to follow up to make sure you're quarantining."
During Wednesday's press conference, the Governor confirmed his office has contacted the airlines to encourage them to make announcements on flights coming in from states that are part of the travel advisory.
Here are a few more questions from viewers:
Bob wanted to know: "How can they track if you're coming back from those states if you're driving?"
Again, we have the two transcripts to go off of from the Governor's office.
The Governor told CNN, "You get pulled over by a police officer and he looks at where your residence is and says, "How long have you been here?" and that's how they'd check. And, he said this is not a blockade, you can still drive into New York, but you have to quarantine for two weeks if you're coming from one of the states in question.
Adam asked: "Any idea if Florida travelers will need to be quarantined? My step kids are down in Florida and come back this weekend."
Since they didn't get back here before midnight, Adam’s step-kids will have to quarantine for 14 days as long as Florida is still on the list of states with high rates of the coronavirus.
Debbie also asked about Florida wondering: "How are they enforcing this for people who fly in and not on a direct flight from Florida or any of the states mentioned?"
2 On Your Side asked the Governor's office Debbie’s question and again we had the transcripts to go off of. The Governor told CNN, "You fly in here from another state, we know what flight you came in on. And we'll have inspectors who are randomly looking at the names on the list and calling to follow up to make sure you're quarantining."
Brian asked: "Are you aware if we'd be taken to a facility for 14 days or just self-isolate!? Trying to figure out if our trip is worth it at this point."
The Governor said on CNN that "The law is if you come in from another state you have to self-quarantine for 14 days."
The key word there is "self" -- and there's nothing about facilities mentioned in the Governor's executive order.
The Governor's executive order says the travel advisory will be on highway message signs and communicated at airports.
2 On Your Side’s Ron Plants asked the Lt. Governor about how it'll be enforced Thursday.
"Do you realistically think that you and the Governor expect State Troopers and other law enforcement to pull out of state license plate drivers over if they feel something like that, I mean, is that realistic?" asked Plants.
"I think that there's no reason to overreact to this situation and create hysteria around what is a public health crisis that we're still experiencing. It has not gone away, and the public has been with us from the very beginning willing to undertake extraordinary sacrifice," says Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul.
"We're not trying to be heavy-handed. It's not our objective. We know law enforcement has a lot of responsibility, but certainly, and agencies were involved in other states. We're not the first to undertake this and in Florida they literally pulled people into separate lines to identify individuals who were traveling, find out where they are going to be, and make sure they are going to stay there for two weeks and I'm not aware of any hysteria associated with that," added Hochul.
But what if someone refuses to quarantine?
If you don't follow the travel advisory, you could be put into mandatory quarantine and face fines of up to $10,000.