PROVIDENCE – Gov. Gina M. Raimondo on Sunday said Rhode Island’s evolving policy on enforcing self-quarantine orders for all out-of-state visitors planning to stay no longer singles out New Yorkers.
The new policy, which Raimondo said was part of an executive order she signed Saturday morning, will require all out-of-state passenger vehicles to stop at one of four information centers set up along roadways entering the state from Connecticut. Vehicles with commercial plates will not be stopped.
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Any out-of-state visitors planning to stay in Rhode Island will be asked to self-quarantine for 14 days, said R.I. State Police Col. Jim Manni.
Raimondo at her Saturday press conference extended restrictions on domestic travel into the state to all nonresidents, asking them to self-quarantine for 14 days, mirroring a similar request in place in Massachusetts. But she said only vehicles with New York plates entering the state would be stopped by state police enforcing quarantine orders, due to the rapid outbreak of COVID-19 cases in the Empire State.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told CNN on Saturday that if Rhode Island didn’t roll back its policy targeting New Yorkers for special enforcement of quarantine orders, he would sue the state to stop it.
Raimondo on Sunday acknowledged talking to Cuomo about his concerns but said she told him her executive order signed Saturday morning meant that New Yorkers would no longer be singled out for enforcement of self-quarantine orders or be the only ones to face penalties for failing to comply. She did not share that information at her Saturday afternoon press briefing.
In addition to state police on Saturday ensuring cars with New York plates stop at checkpoints to provide contact information, the National Guard began going door to door in coastal communities to alert residents of the state’s 14-day quarantine order.
Raimondo on Sunday said the National Guard has made hundreds of contacts going door to door, and most people they encountered were happy to comply.
