The health official in charge of the U.S. response to the coronavirus says everyone leaving the New York City metro area should self-quarantine for 14 days.
U.S. State Department health official Deborah Birx said at a White House briefing that people leaving the hardest hit area of the United States might not be sick, but could have been exposed to the virus. She advises people leaving for other areas to stay home for two weeks.
Birx says about 56% of the cases in the United States are coming out of the New York City metro area.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is advising President Donald Trump on the pandemic, says about one per 1,000 people leaving New York are infected. He says that's eight to 10 times more than in other areas.
This comes as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has refused to follow the lead of other states that have issued broad shutdowns to control the spread of the coronavirus, shifted the onus to outside travelers whom he blames for bringing COVID-19 into the Sunshine State.
DeSantis issued an executive order Monday requiring anyone arriving on a flight from hard-hit New York City, Connecticut and New Jersey to self-quarantine for two weeks, the toughest restrictions any one state has imposed on others during the crisis. He extended that order Tuesday to anyone arriving by any means of transportation within the past three weeks.
