New Mexico worries about tourists from Arizona and Texas, as many refuse to quarantine
Like governors in at least 15 states of the USA, New Mexico’s governor Lujan Grisham has ordered out-of-state tourists to self-isolate, citing data that about one in 10 of the state’s spiking COVID-19 cases comes from visitors.
According to a Reuters report, enforcing the orders is proving difficult, given the lack of a national plan, police reluctance to take on the massive task, and Americans’ penchant for driving hundreds or thousands of miles to vacation, even in a pandemic.
A US road trip this summer means navigating through a patchwork of quarantine regulations across various states, most of them voluntary. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut require travellers from 19 states with high COVID-19 infection rates to self-quarantine for two weeks upon arrival. New York imposes fines.
Hard-hit Florida requires travellers from those three states to self-isolate for 14 days whether arriving by plane or car, or face a $500 fine, the Reuters report says. Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Vermont all have varying self-isolation rules.
New Mexico published newspaper ads in neighbouring Arizona and Texas, respectively reporting 27% and 18% positive coronavirus test rates, urging their residents not to visit. But tourists keep coming, the Reuters report says.
As in cities across New Mexico, police in Red River have yet to issue citations for non-compliance to COVID-19 rules, said Mayor Linda Calhoun, adding that she is encouraging businesses to require masks.
“We live off of tourists, that’s all we have, so it’s very difficult for us to enforce the order,” Calhoun said of the quarantine rule in her town nicknamed “Little Texas” for the number of visitors from that state.
A poor state with limited hospital capacity, New Mexico used early, tough restrictions to curb the pandemic. But with its positive test rate rising above 4%, Lujan Grisham has scolded New Mexicans for letting down their guard since she eased restrictions on June 1, and last week reclosed indoor restaurant dining, the Reuters report added.