My home state of Texas is now requiring airline passengers arriving from the New York area or New Orleans to self-quarantine and threatening that troopers will check up on people. If you arrive in the state on a connecting flight or by car, though, this doesn’t apply to you.
Rhode Island is allowing no such loopholes in their new ban on New Yorkers seeking refuge in the state. The U.S. now has over 112,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, nearly 40% more than China has reported. And half of all U.S. cases are in New York and New Jersey.
Police in Rhode Island are now stopping cars with New York license plates and the state’s National Guard is conducting house-to-house searches to find New Yorkers and impose a 14 day quarantine. According to the Governor of the state, their “risk is called New York City.”
National Guard members will be stationed at the T.F. Green airport, Amtrak train stations and at bus stops. The citizen-soldiers will be following up with people at local residences. The maximum penalty for not complying: a fine of $500 and 90 days in prison.
…Just before 1 p.m. Friday, state police were set up on Interstate 95 northbound, at the rest stop closest to the Connecticut border. A mile or two before that, motorists could see signs ordering all New York passenger vehicles to pull over at the rest stop.
The governor says she can’t legally close the border, but can enforce a quarantine, currently set to run through at least April 25 but excluding health and safety workers. The Rhode Island ACLU says a New York license plate cannot be the basis of a traffic stop.
In the meanwhile, CT governor Ned Lamont issues a stern admonition to New Yorkers to ask them “pretty please, may I” to self -quarantine. As they say in the countryside, those New York horses have long ago left that barn.
As a R.I. resident, I approve.
We have been waiting years for the chance to finally do this.
Buffalo NY is 300 miles father from NYC than the border of RI. By that “logic” if you’re telling anyone from NY state to self quarantine then you should tell anyone within 400 miles of NYC to do the same
The amount of liberty being taken by governments during this is staggering and sadly unlikely to be returned when it is over.
I wish we would do this in AZ for CA and WA
[THICK RUSSIAN ACCENT] “Your papers please” Oh, wait, I though this was America?
Can you say “police state”? The ignorance and stupidity being displayed here is amazing.
Lock them up! Lock them up!
This is a highly over dramatic depiction of what is happening here. I promise you no one in the national guard is conducting house to house searches looking for New Yorkers. Try and stick with the facts, even if the drama gets you extra clicks.
Smart move by Rhode Island. They’re not stopping people from coming but they’re making real strides to keep people safe. In a no-win situation, that’s about as good as you could hope for.
They can look forward to some expensive lawsuits, since this is most likely unconstitutional in our country, to force-quarantine people who are not even sick (at the moment)
I agree with @gus I think there will be a lot of communities and states that will be spending a lot of time and money in the future on overstepping rights in the future. Places like Chicago that are preventing people from going outside more than so many feet from their homes is a good example.
This is exactly what the Gov’t wants is for you to voluntarily give up your civil liberties. Don’t expect to receive that control back anytime soon. 90 days in the can and a $400 fine but folks with lesser violations that should actually be in jail are being loosed from prison or not arrested at all! Wake up sheeple it’s the New World Order.All of it brought about via a man made virus created by multiple international governments to bring about world financial collapse and domination.
Papers? No papers, shoot them!,,
@IamWoke2020 okok you’ve made your point, you troll.
Rhode Island repealed this nonsense. As for Texas I hate to break it to you but its already there. Nonsensical politicians trying to make it seem like the New Yorkers are going to rush to Texas of all places to infect people. Give it two or three weeks and states will be saying they don’t want Texans coming to them.
New York City has it coming to them. They flaunt their sanctuary laws while rapists and murderers are let go. NYC cops don’t even bother to arrest kids stealing hundreds or thousands of $$$ value. They sowed to the wind, and they can reap THEIR whirlwind. Unless voters in these states change, this what they will live in. A cesspool.
We are a nation of laws. And NYC, California and Chicago is not ABOVE THE LAW ! Smart money left California years ago. They saw it coming.
The rich like Bloomberg don’t worry about such pettiness. They live in walled guarded communities. Hey, it works for them, but what about “the people.”
Some of the readers are just now realizing that Covid2019 is a man-made pathogen. Part of a plan to destroy the US Dollar as the world’s reserve currency. As the title of that book said, “You can trust the Communists……….
to be Communists. Exactly. And it is shocking that Americans are finding out that most of our medicines are made where…in Communist China?
Made in China by children. Hey, we can pocket more money that way !
The swamp (on both sides) is very very bad.
Rhode Island changed it from New Yorkers driving in to ALL OUT OF STATERS. NY NJ and CT have been hard hit.
Many NY residents have summer homes here in RI that cost $400K+ that is the issue they are escaping NYC to come to RI They are afraid of the virus so the RICH who can afford a $400,000 summer house that they only stay in for a few days a year while the 99% stands by hoping they do not get sick.