New York's plan to make people coming in from coronavirus hotspot states self-quarantine for 14 days won't involve a blockade, but stiff fines will come into play for people who are caught breaking the rule, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.
"The federal government threatened to blockade New York, which means you couldn't come in or go out," said Cuomo on CNN's "New Day." "I don't believe that's constitutional, but states do have the authority to regulate their own public health."
New York's law is "like any other law," Cuomo explained. "If you fly in to New York, we have your name, where you're staying, there will be random checks. You will get pulled over by a police officer and he looks at where your residence, how long have you been here? You get sick and go to the hospital from out of state and you test positive and you're within the 14 days, you'll be violating the law."
Cuomo said he thinks most people will honor the new rule because they'll understand why it's being put in place.
"We have one of the lowest infection rates in the United States right now," said Cuomo. "We had one of the highest as you know. We worked very hard in New York, and the people of New York sacrificed for the past three months. They closed down, they wear masks, they socially distanced, we have the virus under control. And we don't want to see it go up again."
New York, he added, "did the right thing," and its residents paid a "terrible cost" to flatten the curve.
Meanwhile, Florida back in March banned people from New York from coming in during the height of the virus, but Cuomo accused the state's leaders Thursday of "playing politics" with the virus.
"You told the people of your state and you told the people of this country, White House, don't worry about it," said Cuomo. "You see the death projections going up. You see the economy going down. It was never politics. It was always science. And they were in denial and denial is not a life strategy."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.