De Blasio doing what I want our mayor here in New Orleans to consider
Checkpoints will be set up at New York City’s tunnels and bridges to trace travelers from 35 COVID hotspot states and enforce 14-day quarantine — and anyone who flouts it risks a $10,000 fine
- De Blasio said on Wednesday the checkpoints are designed to send a ‘clear message’
- Anyone caught entering NYC on bridges or tunnels from one of the designated states will be told to quarantine
- The checks on cars will be random, with every sixth or eighth car being checked
- They will start tomorrow morning, on Thursday, August 6
- It’s unclear how de Blasio will check on whether or not people are actually quarantining once they pass the checkpoint
- Currently, anyone entering NY State from COVID-19 hotspots states are being told to self-isolate for 14 days
- But the only way it is being traced is with people phoning numbers that are provided on forms
- The form asks people to consent to receiving daily text messages from the state
- If they can’t be reached by phone, they are told to expect home visits
- But the form only asks for an address if NY is the traveler’s final destination
- It remains unclear how law enforcement will ensure people’s information is correct
First off, both the verbiage above and the picture are from the article linked beyond.
The rest of the article gives a list of the 35 states, which included most if not all of the south, the midwest, but also California and Washington State in the list of states that will be checked on entry into New York City. This decision by Mayor De Blasio is to try to turn the tide and keep the spread that is going on in the country at least from coming back and re-infection New York City.
New Orleans is in the same situation. The rest of the state and many of our neighboring states never paid as much attention to this pandemic as did the city of New Orleans. As a result, we are finding ourselves, after fighting to get the virus under control getting another upsurge because of people coming in from the rest of the state and from the neighboring state. Thus far, our governor has stopped reopening beyond stage two. The mayor, however, has closed all bars to take out alcoholic beverages. The problem there was that people were buying drinks, taking them out on the street (something that is normally totally legal in New Orleans if not the entire state), and partying hardy in crowds on the street.
We know that huge mobs of people are a breeding ground for this virus especially if nobody is wearing a mask or staying six feet apart. Personally, I wish the Mayor or maybe even the Governor would impose some restrictions on people from surrounding states coming into Louisiana adding to the problem but it may be too late for that now.
I know there are some issues with De Blasio's decision here. However, as far as I am concerned, the problems have to do with too much wiggle room instead of little. Why only check every 6–8 cars especially if the car has tags from one of those 35 states. Then every car should be checked. They may, however, be checking every car, even those with New York tags to see if there are passengers from one of those states in that car. That would include cabs. I assume and hope that I am right that taxis and other conveyance from the airport have to go thought one of the tunnels.
Also, as the article admits, there are questions about how to enforce some of this, but at least the Mayor is taking it seriously.
My concern is what is going to happen when it gets cooler if things are this had in the middle of summer. That is something I need we need to be considering before it sneaks up and devastates us all over again — one more time. Twice is enough, I should think.
