Inter-State travel quarantine entering Florida

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Isaac-1

Isaac-1

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Joined
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8,314
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SW Louisiana
We are starting to see mandatory 2 week quarantine orders for interstate travelers, in this case it is anyone from Louisiana, or some other states arriving in Florida (it is less than a 3 hour drive from New Orleans to the Florida state line, more like 2 hours state line to state line across the narrow sections of coastal Mississippi and Alabama).  Penalty of 60 days in jail for not obeying.

See https://www.nola.com/news/coronavirus/article_3d4a07c2-706b-11ea-9d59-432041c0536c.html

If this trend continues it could really shut down travel around the country, imagine a coast to coast trip with a 2 week quarantine at each state you enter, we are starting to look at Oregon trail like speeds for a transcontinental trip.

p.s. note this order applies to everyone arriving from Louisiana, not just those from the hard hit New Orleans area.  So I guess I will not be going to my ex-wife's wedding in Florida next month, as I live on the west side of Louisiana almost to Texas (a 5 hour drive from New Orleans)
 
Well it is her second wedding since we divorced 21 years ago, and I really was not considering going anyway.
 
Isaac-1 said:
We are starting to see mandatory 2 week quarantine orders for interstate travelers, in this case it is anyone from Louisiana, or some other states arriving in Florida
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So if you're traveling, just where are you supposed to "self quarantine"?  How are you suppose to get food?  or do laundry? In your vehicle?  I can't imagine that there are enough motels near major travel routes to accommodate people.  What about truck drivers and their deliveries?  What about service repair people like plumbers, electricians, etc.  I'll bet they won't be quarantined but they pose just as much risk for transmitting the virus as anyone. What about people who cross the state line for daily work?  Talk about over reaction!  To me, this is the most blatant political move I've heard about yet.  Staff to Governor "Governor, you need to do something to make people think you're keeping them safe"  "Yes, yes, we know Governor that infections are mainly being transmitted among family members and close friends, and not from people coming into the State, but this will play well with voters"-- It's all about appearances at this point and has little to do with any REAL impact on slowing the transmission.  My take on this of course.

Linda
 
I can't imagine that there are enough motels near major travel routes to accommodate people.  What about truck drivers and their deliveries?  What about service repair people like plumbers, electricians, etc.
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And, are they setting up border patrols on all the roads, tying up their police force?
 
Just read a FB post from a woman in Cocoa Beach, FL. A man asked her if she knew of any motels in the area with available rooms. He said they were from New York and there were 13 carloads in their caravan.
 
The order isn't real specific, but it says "people arriving from Louisiana", so not necessarily everyone who passes through Louisiana while enroute between two places.  It presumably would apply to Isaac's wedding trip, though.  Just how it gets handled remains to be seen.  I suspect we are going to see a lot of state border closings before this is over. Texas has already announced a similar quarantine for people coming from LA.


The order has already been effective in discouraging air travel from the NYC area to Florida.  Simply announcing that screening would take place at FL airports resulted in an immediate major drop in arrivals from there.
 
Thankfully so far the Texas order only applies to people arriving by plane to Texas from New Orleans or New York, not those driving.
 
The problem as I see it is that if this thing does not get under control soon, every state will have a hot spot, but by then all the inter-state travel restrictions will be in place and no one will dare take them down, even though they are not helping anything.  If you look at it already Florida as a whole has more cases than Louisiana, just no one central hot spot like New Orleans.

Current number of confirmed cases from the Johns Hopkins tracker 3198 Florida vs 2746 Louisiana
 
Oldgator73 said:
Who, other than folks on essential business, are out traveling around the country?
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I expect there a number of folks like us where we've been on the road since mid December and are now working their way back home.

In our case, headed home to Upstate NY, we also were in NOLA and spent some time at Mardi Gras. I guess we would have been one of those stopped  entering the FL panhandle. Obviously, given the situation in NOLA, we were concerned and have more or less self quarantining for a few weeks now-- sticking pretty close to our RV, maintaining physical distancing when out for essentials, etc.

We'll be checking out of this last site Monday and making a "dash" for home. Stopping along the way to grab a bite to eat (in the coach) and gassing up.  When we do get home we'll feel pretty safe given we have a pretty spacious rural property with the nearest neighbor a half mile away.

Until we get home technically we're camping, but it sure feels different!
 
> 13 carloads in their caravan.

  And that's why the quarantine is in place. Why should Florida accept people from "hot zones" and conversely why should anyone accept people from Florida?

  It's presumed that people coming to Florida are going somewhere in Florida, not just driving around aimlessly or living in their cars, so they're required to self-quarantine. Commercial traffic is exempt.
 
Isaac-1 said:
Thankfully so far the Texas order only applies to people arriving by plane to Texas from New Orleans or New York, not those driving.
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Which by itself seems kind of stupid if they are not enforcing vehicle traffic from the heavily affected states, especially Louisiana being so close.
 
One has to assume they have somewhere to go, note the Florida governor's order also bans all new vacation house rentals.  These same sort of bans on rental of vacation properties is showing up all over the country.

As to who is traveling, my somewhat crazy (bi-polar) ex-brother in law is flying from Ohio to Houston, by way of changing planes in Orlando as I type this.  He is in a manic phase at the moment, and called to say he was in Florida a few minutes ago, he is on his way to Houston to pick up his car which he left at the airport lot there when he flew back to Ohio 2 months ago, with the intention then of only being there for a week or two, then moving back to Louisiana.

ps All of Louisiana is not New Orleans, I am in Louisiana less than 20 miles from the Texas state line, and less than 150 miles from Houston and New Orleans is on the far side of the Louisiana about 250 miles away.  To put it another way, driving time on Interstate from New Orleans to Houston is over 5 hours in the best of times.
 
Closing state borders to certain populations from other states is jousting at windmills. Every state has cases of Covid-19 and spreading rapidly by community transmission within the state. However, it is wise to require travelers to the state (not passing through) to self-isolate for 14 days. But, everyone except essential workers should be self isolating anyway.
 
decaturbob said:
so we could in fact so interstate travel regulated and enforced.  Why I got the heck of Florida a week ago
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My wife and I did the same a few days ago. The Illinois governor was threatening to close the borders and getting to Wisconsin from Florida without crossing the Illinois border is a longer drive. There was not much traffic on the roads other than trucks. There was little left to do in Florida anyway. We're self quarantining for a couple weeks just to be sure.
 
ps All of Louisiana is not New Orleans, I am in Louisiana less than 20 miles from the Texas state line, and less than 150 miles from Houston and New Orleans is on the far side of the Louisiana about 250 miles away.  To put it another way, driving time on Interstate from New Orleans to Houston is over 5 hours in the best of times.
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Yeah, and all of New York isn't NYC and all of Florida isn't Miami-Ft Lauderdale.  Everything gets painted with a broad brush, especially in the news and gov't edicts.  The state & local governments are struggling to learn on the job, just as we citizens are struggling to deal with the effects.
 
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