Rhode Island ends policy of stopping cars with New York plates

Tribune Content Agency

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo repealed her order that New Yorkers coming to the state be singled out for Covid-19 quarantine and replaced it with a requirement that all out-of-state travelers isolate for 14 days.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had threatened to sue Rhode Island, after state troopers began stopping cars with New York plates and police and the National Guard went to summer houses believed to be owned by New Yorkers.

The new order essentially ends New York as a specific target. It reads in in part: “Any person coming to Rhode Island from another state for a non-work-related purpose must immediately self-quarantine for 14 days.”

Cuomo said he spoke with Raimondo and was pleased she decided to rescind the order.

“I don’t think the order was called for,” he told reporters in Albany on Sunday. “I don’t believe it was legal. I don’t believe it was neighborly. “

“I thank her very much for reconsidering,” he said.

On Friday, Raimondo established highway checkpoints where state police pulled over passenger vehicles with New York plates. In an email Sunday, her spokesman, Josh Block, said, “The informational stations along the border are still in place. The Governor will address new guidance for these stations in today’s briefing.”

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