The US Center for Disease Control (CDC) issued a travel advisory Saturday for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut residents amid COVID-19 spread concerns. The CDC recommends that residents of these states refrain from domestic travel for the next 14 days. However, the agency advises critical infrastructure industry employees to continue travel.
The CDC explained its policy on its website:
The CDC urges residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to refrain from non-essential domestic travel for 14 days effective immediately. This Domestic Travel Advisory does not apply to employees of critical infrastructure industries, including but not limited to trucking, public health professionals, financial services, and food supply. These employees of critical infrastructure, as defined by the Department of Homeland Security have a special responsibility to maintain normal work schedule. The Governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut will have full discretion to implement this Domestic Travel Advisory.
According to the CDC, critical infrastructure industry employees additionally encompass “staffing operations centers, maintaining and repairing critical infrastructure, operating call centers, working construction, and performing operational functions, among others.” The CDC also outlined the affected industries of “medical and healthcare, telecommunications, information technology systems, defense, food and agriculture, transportation and logistics, energy, water and wastewater, law enforcement, and public works.”
This travel advisory followed concerns over COVID-19’s spread from the New York metropolitan area. Responding to these concerns, President Donald Trump asked the CDC to implement the advisory Saturday evening. The president had previously considered a government-imposed quarantine for New York but favored the travel advisory.
As of Sunday, New York has 59,513 COVID-19 positive cases. New York remains the leader in positive COVID-19 cases in the US as the state makes up around half of the 122,653 US cases.
