Travel advisories expand in Philadelphia, New Jersey as COVID-19 cases increase
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- As Philadelphia is pumping the brakes on reopening plans, the Kenney Administration issued a travel advisory Tuesday, stating anyone traveling to and from 15 states where coronavirus cases are skyrocketing should self-quarantine for 14 days.
While things are much slower at Philadelphia International Airport, dozens of travelers are still arriving from hot spots like Georgia, California and Florida.
"By the time you're halfway through the flight, people have the mask under their nose or under their chin, so it's like it's not really doing anything," said Mark McCannon, who flew into Philadelphia from Los Angeles.
Jalil Jones of Allentown arrived from Miami and said he thinks the travel advisory is "dumb."
"Safe to say I'm not going to quarantine: I have no cough, I can smell, I can taste... yeah- I seem perfectly fine," said Jones.
RELATED: Travelers from 16 states to quarantine in New Jersey under expanded advisory
The Philadelphia announcement comes on the heels of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy expanding his travel advisory to 16 states, saying that self-quarantine is voluntary but compliance is expected.
"No problem because you have to do what you have to do," said Monica Cancelliere of North Wildwood, New Jersey, who arrived from Los Angeles. "It's for the benefit of everybody."
Some travelers said they don't believe others will follow the self-quarantine.
"People are kind of over quarantining in general and I don't know, I think a lot of jobs aren't going to allow you to wait for two weeks," said Saleena Khamamkar of Los Angeles.
Philadelphia Health Commissioner Thomas Farley says the spike in positive cases is linked to young people, social events and travel.
Under the travel advisory, individuals traveling to or from states with increasing rates of COVID-19 are advised to self-quarantine for 14 days. This includes travel by train, bus, car, plane and any other method of transportation, officials said.
As of June 30, those states include:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Arizona
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Iowa
- Idaho*
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- North Carolina
- Nevada
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
(*Only New Jersey is requiring a person who is traveling to and from Idaho to quarantine.)
The 14-day quarantine travel advisory applies to travel from states identified as those that have a positive COVID-19 test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents or have a 10% or higher positivity rate over a seven-day rolling average, officials said.
MORE COVID-19 COVERAGE
What to know as Philadelphia puts pause on some reopening plans
American Airlines shows off new cleaning, safety measures
Fauci warns US could see 100k coronavirus cases per day
Atlantic City's Borgata delays reopening amid new restrictions on casinos
Delaware pauses reopening, beach bars to close ahead of July 4th holiday weekend
For more updates related to the coronavirus, visit 6abc.com/coronavirus
