National Guard in Rhode Island go door-to-door checking for NY state license plates to force visitors from the coronavirus epicenter into 14-day quarantine - sparking Cuomo to say it's illegal and he'll sue
The Rhode Island National Guard is going door to door in coastal communities on Saturday to tell visiting New Yorkers of a mandatory 14-day quarantine as a furious Governor Andrew Cuomo threatens to sue over what he calls a 'reactionary' policy.
The measure, while extreme, is necessary because the New York City area is the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States and is needed to control its spread, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo said on Saturday.
The order came the same day state police started pulling over vehicles with New York license plates to get contact information for drivers and passengers and to inform them of the quarantine order.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (left) threatened to sue Rhode Island after its governor, Gina Raimondo (right), announced a new policy forcing visitors from New York into a mandatory 14-day quarantine
Rhode Island Air National Guard Sgt William Randall walks through the Watch Hill neighborhood looking for New York residents to inform them of self quarantine orders Saturday
Guards approach a property to check for New Yorkers. Rhode Island is sending the National Guard to hunt down any New Yorkers who have fled to the state
The National Guard has been deployed to knock door-to-door looking for anyone who has evacuated the coronavirus-stricken state and arrived in Rhode Island
Police have also started pulling over cars with New York state plates looking for any escapees
People who break the order faces fines and even arrest for subsequent violations, the Democratic governor said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island on Thursday questioned the constitutionality of pulling over vehicles for no other reason than having a New York plate.
But Raimondo said Friday she has consulted with lawyers and is in line with White House and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
Cuomo said that if Raimondo doesn't walk back the policy, he will take her to court.
'We’re talking to Rhode Island now,' the New York governor told CNN on Saturday evening.
'If they don’t roll back that policy, I’m going to sue Rhode Island.
'No state should be using police to limit interstate travel.'for this
While Rhode Island’s response to the outbreak has been solid, the state is unprepared for a huge surge in cases such as experienced in New York and New Orleans, Raimondo said.
Because of that, she extended the state’s social distancing guidelines that include no public gatherings of more than 10 people and limiting restaurants to takeout and delivery service only until April 13.
A member of the Rhode Island National Guard Military Police directs motorists with New York license plates at a checkpoint on I-95 over the border with Connecticut where New Yorkers must pull over and provide contact information and are told to self-quarantine for two weeks
A Rhode Island National Guard Military Police officer directs motorists with New York license plates at a checkpoint in Hope Valley, Rhode Island, on Saturday
Raimondo on Saturday ordered anyone visiting the state to self-quarantine for 14 days and restricted residents to stay at home and nonessential retail businesses to close Monday until April 13 to help stop the spread of the coronavirus
Members of the Rhode Island National Guard Military Police wait for motorists with New York license plates at a checkpoint on I-95 near the border with Connecticut on Saturday
A member of the Rhode Island National Guard Military Police directs a motorist with New York license plates at a checkpoint in Hope Valley, Rhode Island, on Saturday
A sign on Interstate 95 directs motorists with New York license plates to pull over in Hope Valley, Rhode Island, on Saturday
The state’s two casinos will remain closed indefinitely while visitors will not be allowed at the state’s nursing homes and hospitals until further notice.
There were 38 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Rhode Island on Friday, bringing the state’s total to more then 200, Raimondo said. Twenty-eight people are hospitalized.
For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.
For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.
Other states are mimicking Rhode Island.
Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Maryland also require a mandatory 14-day quarantine for new arrivals from the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut tri-state area.
President Trump on Saturday evening tweeted that he would not seek to impose a federally mandated quarantine of residents from the three states.
Earlier on Saturday, Trump said he was considering such a move, though it wasn’t clear whether he had the power to order state residents to stay put.
Trump told reporters that he had spoken with Republican Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, among others, and that 'a lot of the states that are infected but don't have a big problem, they’ve asked me if I'll look at it, so we’re going to look at it.'
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who criticized the federal government’s response as his state became the country’s virus epicenter, said the issue did not come up in a conversation he had with Trump earlier Saturday.
'I don’t even know what that means,' the Democrat said at a briefing in New York.
'I don't know how that could be legally enforceable, and from a medical point of view, I don't know what you would be accomplishing. ... I don’t like the sound of it.'
Later on Saturday evening, Cuomo blasted the idea, which he said has parallels to a 'civil war kind of discussion.'
'If you start walling off areas all across the country it would just be totally bizarre, counter-productive, anti-American, anti-social,' said Cuomo in an interview with CNN on Saturday.
'This is a civil war kind of discussion,' Cuomo said of the proposal.
'I don't believe that any administration could be serious about physical lockdowns of states.'
Cuomo said that it would probably be illegal to quarantine New York, as well as totally ineffective, given the rise of other virus hotspots in the country such as New Orleans.
'It makes absolutely no sense and I don't think any serious governmental personality or professional would support it,' Cuomo said.
Trump made his remarks while on a trip to Norfolk, Virginia, to see off a US Navy hospital ship heading to New York City to help with the pandemic.
At the event, he spoke to a sparse crowd at the naval base and cautioned Americans to take virus protections, even though he himself, at 73, is in a high-risk category and among those who have been advised to refrain from all non-essential travel.
The federal government is empowered to take measures to prevent the spread of communicable diseases between states, but it’s not clear that means Trump can ban people from leaving their state.
It has never been tested in the modern era - and in rare cases when any quarantine was challenged, the courts generally sided with public health officials.
Trump speaks in front of the US Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort at Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia, Saturday. He said he is considering quarantining New York and parts of Connecticut and New Jersey in a desperate effort to slow the spread of coronavirus
Courts have ruled consistently for years that the authority to order quarantines inside states rests almost entirely with the states, under provisions in the Constitution ceding power not explicitly delegated to the federal government to states.
The federal government, though, would have power under constitutional clauses regulating commerce to quarantine international travelers or those traveling state to state who might be carriers of deadly diseases.
Still, 'it is entirely unprecedented that governors or the president would prevent people from traveling from one state to another during an infectious disease outbreak,' said Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University law professor and public health specialist who questioned Trump’s ability to order a quarantine on states.
But as Trump traveled to Norfolk, he tweeted: 'I am giving consideration to a QUARANTINE of developing “hot spots”, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. A decision will be made, one way or another, shortly.'
Trump later tweeted on Saturday evening that he would not impose a federally mandated quarantine on the tri-state area
When asked about legal authority for quarantine, the incoming White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said officials are 'evaluating all the options right now.'
Administration officials were discussing less-stringent measures as well.
One idea under consideration would be to tell residents of the hard-hit areas to isolate themselves and not travel for two weeks, just as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has instructed anyone who recently left New York to self-quarantine for 14 days, according to one person familiar with the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing deliberations.
The measure wouldn’t necessarily come with any legal force or penalty, just the hope that people would comply in an effort to try to contain the virus spread.
National Guard in Rhode Island go door-to-door checking for NY state license plates to force visitors from the coronavirus epicenter into 14-day quarantine - sparking Cuomo to say it's illegal and he'll sue
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March 29, 2020
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