BOSTON — A travel order issued by Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker requires individuals entering the state as visitors or residents returning to their homes to quarantine for 14 days or produce a negative coronavirus test result that has been conducted no more than 72 hours before arriving in the state.
Failure to comply can result in a $500 fine per day.
As of Saturday, only travelers from 10 states are considered low-risk for spreading COVID-19 and do not need to quarantine for two weeks.
Those states are as follows: Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
States are included on the lower-risk list based on meeting two criteria: average daily reported coronavirus cases per 100,000 are below six and the positive test rate is below 5%, both measured as a 7-day rolling average.
Wyoming was the most recent state removed from the low-risk list.
Baker’s travel order was issued Aug. 1. It is being enforced by local boards of health, WFXT-TV reported.
“Every traveler coming to Massachusetts, no matter where they’re from, has a responsibility to help keep COVID-19 out of the Commonwealth,” Baker said.
When asked why the state was ramping up travel restrictions now, the governor said it has to do with the amount of interstate travel in the past two months, along with international travel and the significant increase in positive test rates and test rates per capita in other states.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported 431 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday. The state reported it’s highest number of new cases in a single day on April 24 when about 3,500 cases were reported.
Read more at Boston25News.com and Mass.gov.
WFXT-TV contributed to this report.
Cox Media Group
