#NJ residents will be exempt from NY quarantine if coronavirus cases spike, Cuomo says

ALBANY — New Jersey residents coming into New York would be exempt from a 14-day quarantine rule targeting travelers from areas seeing spikes in coronavirus cases — even though cases in the state are rising, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.

The June 24 order by Govs. Cuomo, Phil Murphy on New Jersey and Ned Lamont of Connecticut requires people coming from 34 states, Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. to spend more than two weeks in lockdown after entering the tri-state area.

But if things in New Jersey worsen, residents won’t be restricted from crossing the Hudson, Cuomo said.

“I don’t know how you could quarantine New Jersey, they don’t fly into New York, you’d have to blockade roads and we’re not talking about blockading,” he told reporters.

“Quarantine is basically through the airports. That wouldn’t apply for Jersey and we’re going to keep our fingers crossed and work with them to get the number down.”

Over the past four days, the Garden State has recorded a spike of nearly 2,000 new COVID-19 cases that’s pushed back its reopening plans for indoor activities like indoor dining and gym usage.

States get added to the quarantine list if their virus data shows a positive test rate higher than 10 per 10,000 residents over a seven-day rolling average, or a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over the same time frame.

New Jersey has not met or exceeded those metrics.

“On New Jersey: We’re working with them, obviously they’re our neighbor, they’ve been our neighbor all through all of this and I’m hopeful that we can get that number down,” Cuomo said.

A chunk of Big Apple’s workforce comes from New Jersey, as residents commute into the five boroughs daily by car, rail or bus.

Pre-pandemic PATH ridership data from February 2020 showed the more than 118,000 commuters departed daily from New Jersey stations — though daily average ridership dropped to 16,900 commutes in June.

The tristate directive says people coming from high infection rate states — like Florida, Texas or Arizona — must commit to a two week precautionary isolation period.

It also requires travelers to fill out a form detailing their travel plans, and if they fail to comply, they could be subject to a mandatory quarantine order and face up to $2,000 in fines.

Cuomo has said “random checks” performed by state health officials and the Port Authority make up the bulk of the order’s policing power.