New Jersey advises 14-day quarantine for travelers from states with high COVID-19 rates

New Jersey has joined New York and Connecticut in requiring travelers from states where the coronavirus is surging to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. 

The jointly-issued travel advisory takes effect at midnight. It applies to anyone traveling from Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington. Additional states will be added to the list if they meet one of these two criteria:

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• The state's COVID-19 transmission rate exceeds 10 infections per 100,000 residents over a seven-day rolling average.

• Ten percent of the state's total population tests positive over a seven-day rolling average. 

States will be removed from the list once they are no longer exceeding those marks. The list will be updated daily.

New Jersey, New York and Connecticut residents who travel to impacted states also will be required to self-quarantine for two weeks upon their return. 

The states will post messages at highways and airports reminding visitors of the advisory. Hotels will be asked to share the advisory with guests who have traveled from one of the impacted states. 

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy called the advisory "common sense." He previously has noted the importance of a regional approach to curbing the spread of COVID-19. 

The announcement comes as COVID-19 cases are spiking in the South and Southwest regions of the United States. But cases have been declining in many portions of the Northeast, where the reopening process has been more prolonged. 

"Over the course of the past few months, our states have taken aggressive action to flatten the curve and beat back the coronavirus," Murphy said. "As a result of our collective efforts, we have low infection rates, falling hospitalizations and have steadily been reopening our economies. Unfortunately many states continue to have high transmission rates."

In that regard, the advisory indicates the progress the region has made. 

Three months ago, when the New York City region was the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention instituted a domestic travel advisory urging New Jersey, New York and Connecticut residents to refrain from non-essential travel.