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California Issues Travel Advisory Ahead of Holidays as COVID-19 Cases Increase
Arcadia Weekly Nov 13, 2020
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Residents from California, Washington and Oregon are asked to stay local and limit contact with people outside their household. | Courtesy photo by James Stevenson on Unsplash
Three western states are recommending 14-day quarantines for inter-state and international travel; residents asked to stay local
As COVID-19 cases continue to increase across the country, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Oregon Governor Kate Brown and Washington Governor Jay Inslee issued travel advisories Friday urging visitors entering their states or returning home from travel outside these states to self-quarantine to slow the spread of the virus.
The travel advisories urge against non-essential out-of-state travel, ask people to self-quarantine for 14 days after arriving from another state or country, and encourage residents to stay local.
“California just surpassed a sobering threshold — one million COVID-19 cases — with no signs of the virus slowing down,” said Newsom. “Increased cases are adding pressure on our hospital systems and threatening the lives of seniors, essential workers and vulnerable Californians. Travel increases the risk of spreading COVID-19, and we must all collectively increase our efforts at this time to keep the virus at bay and save lives.”
In addition to urging individuals arriving from other states or countries to self-quarantine after arrival, the states’ travel advisories recommend individuals limit their interactions to their immediate household. The advisories define essential travel as travel for work and study, critical infrastructure support, economic services and supply chains, health, immediate medical care and safety and security.
“COVID-19 does not stop at state lines. As hospitals across the West are stretched to capacity, we must take steps to ensure travelers are not bringing this disease home with them,” said Brown. “If you do not need to travel, you shouldn’t. This will be hard, especially with Thanksgiving around the corner. But the best way to keep your family safe is to stay close to home.”
“COVID cases have doubled in Washington over the past two weeks. This puts our state in as dangerous a position today as we were in March,” said Inslee. “Limiting and reducing travel is one way to reduce the further spread of the disease. I am happy to partner with California and Oregon in this effort to help protect lives up and down the West Coast.”
To learn more about the risk that travel itself poses for COVID-19 exposure, visit the CDC page on travel risks.
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