Even domestic travel is getting significantly more complicated. A few days ago a 14-day quarantine was added for travelers arriving in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut from regions with high COVID-19 infection rates. Now a similar requirement has been added in Chicago.
Chicago’s 14-day travel quarantine requirement
An Emergency Travel Order has been issued for Chicago, requiring a 14-day quarantine when traveling to Chicago from a state experiencing a surge in new COVID-19 cases:
- This applies as of 12:01AM on Monday, July 6
- This applies to individuals arriving in the city of Chicago, while they are in the city (it doesn’t matter whether you’re returning home or are visiting Chicago from out of state)
- This restriction will apply to people coming from states that have a case rate greater than 15 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 resident population, per day, over a seven day rolling average
- The list of restricted states will be updated every Tuesday according to the above methodology
- Essential workers aren’t subjected to this policy
- The order is in effect until further notice
- Those who violate the order are subject to fines of $100-500 per day, up to $7,000
- I don’t see anything regarding how this will be enforced; it doesn’t seem that you have to register where you’ll be quarantining, etc.
Which states are subject to Chicago’s quarantine requirement?
Based on the current new COVID-19 cases, travel from the following 15 states is covered under this order:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Arizona
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- North Carolina
- Nevada
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
My take on “domestic” quarantines
A few thoughts, as we’re seeing an increasing number of cities and states add travel quarantine requirements:
- I’m not opposed to this in general, but at some point the logistics could get complicated, given that in some cases the restrictions are based on city, and in other cases they’re based on state
- This makes planning even domestic travel virtually impossible, since the list of restricted states will constantly be changing
- I do wonder to what extent this will be enforced, and therefore to what extent people will adhere to this policy; Hawaii has done a good job enforcing travel restrictions, but here the greatest risk seems like a $100-500 daily fine
- While testing is challenging again in some areas, it sure would be nice if there were an option to be tested either before or after travel to skip the 14-day quarantine
Bottom line
Chicago has a new 14-day quarantine requirement for visitors coming from states with high rates of new COVID-19 cases. I certainly can’t blame Chicago, and I imagine we’ll only see this trend spread.
While international travel has been largely off the table for a while, we have seen an increase in domestic travel. We could slowly see that trend start to reverse.
What do you make of more cities and states adding 14-day quarantines?
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