The Rhode Island State Police and National Guard will be enforcing mandatory quarantines on people who come to the state from New York.
Anyone who enters RI through passenger vehicle, train or bus must provide their information to law enforcement and self quarantine for two weeks — as well as anyone who has been to New York in the last two weeks.
The restrictions are part of an executive order signed by Gov. Gina Raimondo on Thursday.
Police and the National Guard will collect the addresses, phone numbers, and names of their family members, the Washington Examiner reports. The information collected on people will be used to monitor them for contact tracing and make sure they are following the quarantine orders.
“I understand this is an extreme measure,” the governor said during the news conference. But New York City and the metropolitan area around it, she said, “is a hot zone and the infection rate is skyrocketing.”
The Providence Journal reports that as of late Thursday afternoon, there were at least 21,873 confirmed cases of coronavirus disease and 281 deaths in New York City alone. Confirmed cases in New York state, including the city, numbered 37,769 – more than 47% of the nation’s total.
