Andrew Cuomo, the governor of the state hit worst by the coronavirus, is considering quarantining people who travel to his state from Florida, one of the states that imported nearly all of their cases from New York.
According to CNBC:
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday that he’s considering imposing a quarantine on travelers arriving to New York from states like Florida where coronavirus cases have spiked.
“I haven’t made a decision yet, but I have had experts advise me of that. It is a real concern,” Cuomo said when asked about whether he’d consider imposing some sort of quarantine measure or taking health precautions at airports where travel has increased.
“It could happen, and it’s something I’m considering,” he said.
As everyone knows by now, Cuomo’s disastrous policy of treating coronavirus patents in nursing homes greatly contributed to the spread of the virus to those most vulnerable. A recent analysis found States that issued orders similar to Cuomo’s had similar outcomes. Michigan lost 5% of roughly 38,000 nursing home residents and New Jersey lost 12%. In Florida, where such transfers were barred, only 1.6% of nursing home residents died.
While Cuomo is at the helm statewide, the mayor of the city housing the majority of the state’s population delayed calls to begin shutting down his city for as long as possible. The virus spread throughout the city, then state, and then nationwide. According to a former CDC director, New York’s death toll would be up to 80% lower (or as “little” as 50% lower) had social distancing measures been enacted just two weeks prior (statewide – but especially in NYC). And can only imagine how much lower the national death toll would be in absence of Empire State incompetence.
In total, travel out of New York caused about 65% of new coronavirus cases in the U.S.
Yet imagine how Cuomo would react if someone called for quarantining his residents.
