New York City sets up quarantine checkpoints for interstate visitors

[dufus]

 

New York: New York City will erect quarantine checks at key entry points to ensure travellers from 35 states comply with a 14-day coronavirus quarantine order.

 

"Travellers coming in from those states will be given information about the quarantine and will be reminded that it is required, not optional," New York mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday.

 

Under certain circumstances, fines for not observing the quarantine order could be as high as $US10,000 ($14,000), he said.

 

The checkpoints will be set up at major bridge and tunnel crossings into New York City.

 

"This is serious stuff and it's time for everyone to realise that if we're going to hold at this level of health and safety in this city, we have to deal with the fact that the quarantine must be applied consistently to anyone who's travelled," de Blasio said.

 

Once the epicentre of the US outbreak, New York has taken strong steps to prevent the resurgence of cases seen elsewhere.

 

All public schools in Chicago, Illinois, where COVID-19 cases have risen for six weeks in a row, will start the new academic year with all classes taught remotely from Wednesday.

 

Teachers in the district, the country's third largest with 350,000 students, had resisted a plan by city leaders to launch a hybrid model in which parents could choose to have their children attend in-person instruction in pods of 15 pupils twice a week.

 

The Chicago Teachers Union threatened to strike over safety concerns if city leaders did not opt for remote learning.

 

"Nothing about this crisis has been easy," Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot said. "Every day has been another step into uncharted territory."

source