Trump Floats ‘Enforceable’ Quarantine On Entire New York State To Contain Coronavirus

President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during the daily briefing on the COVID-19 outbreak at the White House on March 22, 2020. (Photo by ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images)
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President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he’s considering ordering a quarantine on New York as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to skyrocket in the state.

“Some people would like to see New York quarantined because it’s a hot spot,” he told reporters during a press pool on the White House lawn. “New York, New Jersey, maybe one or two other places, certain parts of Connecticut quarantined. I’m thinking about that right now.”

Trump said the potential quarantine would be a “short term” period of two weeks.

“Restriction of travel from those places?” a reporter asked.

“Restrict travel,” Trump replied. “Because they’re having problems down in Florida, a lot of New Yorkers going down there. We don’t want that.”

It would be an “enforceable” quarantine, according to the President.

“I would rather not do it but we may need it,” he said.

Trump claimed he’d had a “good dialogue” with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), but the governor said he wasn’t given any kind of heads-up about a possible quarantine when asked about it later.

“I didn’t speak to him about any quarantine,” Cuomo said during a press briefing held shortly after Trump’s presser on Saturday.

“No, I haven’t had those conversations,” he replied when a reporter asked if such a quarantine was a possibility. “I don’t even know what that means.”

With over 52,000 cases of COVID-19, New York has become the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. As such, Cuomo announced on Saturday that the state’s presidential primary will be pushed back from April 28 to June 23.

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Notable Replies

  1. Too late… in past week 3/4 of the workforce at my daughters place of employment has come down sick… EAST TN…

  2. It’s tough to strut, grovel and cower at the same time.

  3. Avatar for ghost ghost says:

    As I asked in the other thread, how exactly is Trump’s quarantine going to be any different than the stay at home orders already put in place by the tri-state governors? Other than that Donnie doesn’t like it that Cuomo has become the face of rational, competent governing in the time of COVID-19 and wants to steal some attention for himself?

  4. Avatar for ghost ghost says:

    Good luck to them, and I hope your daughter stays healthy.

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