Travel Plans: Can Nj Residents Leave The State?

New Jersey residents are free to travel out of state, but there are no clear guidelines on what they should do when they get there. The state is known for its high cost of living, property taxes, and extreme weather. So, it's worth considering these factors when planning a trip outside of New Jersey.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy strongly discourages residents from travelling out of state for non-essential reasons

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has strongly discouraged residents from travelling out of state for non-essential reasons as Covid-19 cases continue to mount in the region. Murphy urged residents that no one should be travelling out-of-state unless necessary. He said, "We've been saying since September, just don't travel. No one should be travelling out of state for anything that is not essential for your daily life: commuting to work, seeking medical treatment, for example."

The governor also said that travellers from outside of the immediate region or from another state should observe a 14-day self-quarantine period and get tested at the right point. He added that there are very few exceptions to this rule and that everyone is simply being asked not to travel unless it is for an essential purpose.

The statewide total of Covid-19 deaths in New Jersey is 15,309. The state's health commissioner has said that there are signs of widespread community transmission for the first time since getting the virus under control. Murphy said that the new cases don't appear to be linked to businesses or schools reopening, but rather to private indoor gatherings that are harder to control.

Travellers returning to New Jersey should quarantine for 14 days

As of December 2, 2020, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy strongly discouraged residents from travelling out of state for non-essential reasons as Covid-19 cases continued to mount in the region. Visitors and residents returning to New Jersey should quarantine for 14 days, under the state's newest version of its travel advisory.

International Travel

For international travel, the CDC requires all air passengers arriving in the United States from a foreign country to get tested for COVID-19 no more than 3 days before their flight departs and to present the negative result or documentation of having recovered from COVID-19 to the airline before boarding the flight.

In addition, with specific exceptions, foreign nationals who have been in any of the following countries during the past 14 days may not enter the United States: India, China, Iran, countries in the European Schengen Area, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Brazil, and South Africa.

Domestic Travel

New Jersey residents who travel to Pennsylvania, New York, or Connecticut for work are exempt from the 14-day quarantine. However, anyone exposed to COVID-19 or returning from a trip should continue to monitor for symptoms for 14 days.

New Jersey continues to discourage non-essential interstate travel, but has modified its rules for some travellers. Quarantine and testing are no longer required if you have been fully vaccinated (two weeks after your final dose) or have recovered from COVID-19 in the past three months.

Any travellers who don't meet the above criteria and are coming to New Jersey from states other than New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware should consider taking a COVID-19 test one to three days before their trip and three to five days after. If they test positive, they should self-isolate for at least 10 days; if they test negative, they will still be asked to quarantine for seven days after arrival. If travellers are unable to take a test, they should quarantine for 10 days after arrival.

New Jersey residents who travel to Pennsylvania, New York or Connecticut for work are exempt from quarantining

New Jersey residents are advised to avoid all non-essential travel out of the state. However, those who need to travel to Pennsylvania, New York, or Connecticut for work are exempt from the mandatory 14-day quarantine rule.

In June 2020, the governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut issued a joint travel advisory, requiring people entering the tristate area from states with high infection rates to quarantine for 14 days. The advisory was put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 as infections surged across the Sunbelt states.

In July 2020, Maine also added New Jersey, along with Connecticut and New York, to the list of states exempt from its 14-day quarantine requirement for visitors.

In October 2020, New Jersey and Connecticut met the threshold to be included on the tristate travel advisory list, but New York Governor Andrew Cuomo stated that he would not add them to the list as it would be impossible to enforce due to the high level of interconnectivity between the states.

As of October 2020, 38 states met the threshold for the tristate travel advisory, which is based on current case numbers and changes weekly.

The number of daily cases in New Jersey has surpassed 1,000 at least three times in the last two weeks

As of September 2024, there are no travel restrictions in place for New Jersey residents. However, the state has seen a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, with the number of daily cases surpassing 1,000 at least three times in the last two weeks.

The highly infectious "FLiRT" subvariants of the Omicron variant are believed to be responsible for the rise in cases, not just in New Jersey but across the US. The CDC has reported that these new subvariants now account for over 80% of infections in the country.

The surge in cases has primarily been seen in the Northeast, with New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands experiencing a 5.9% increase in case positivity in just one week. This makes the region the second-highest in terms of positive COVID-19 tests, with 15.7% of cases coming back positive for the week ending September 7.

While the rise in infections is concerning, hospitalizations have remained relatively low. The new FLiRT variants are highly infectious but tend to cause less severe symptoms. Health officials still recommend taking precautions, such as wearing masks indoors and when experiencing symptoms, and encourage residents to get updated COVID-19 vaccines, which offer the best protection against severe infections.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he wouldn't add New Jersey to the travel quarantine list because it would be impossible to enforce

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he wouldn't add New Jersey, Connecticut, or Pennsylvania to the state's quarantine list, despite the three states meeting the threshold to be included. The threshold for the quarantine list in New York applies to U.S. jurisdictions that either have at least a 10% positivity rate on a seven-day rolling average or more than 10 new cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day rolling average. While New Jersey and Connecticut had hit the new case threshold, their positivity rates were well below the 10% threshold.

Cuomo stated that there was "no practical way" to quarantine New York from its neighboring states, emphasizing the numerous connections and interdependencies between the states:

> There are just too many interchanges, interconnections, and people who live in one place and work in the other. It would have a disastrous effect on the economy.

Instead of a quarantine, Cuomo urged residents to avoid non-essential travel between the states, acknowledging that the close ties between New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania made a quarantine impractical and challenging to enforce. He also highlighted the low infection rates in these states compared to others across the country.

Cuomo's decision was made in consultation with the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut, with a joint statement emphasizing their collaborative efforts in combating the pandemic:

> Our states have worked together successfully in combating this pandemic since the beginning and we'll continue to do so. The travel advisory was designed to keep our respective states safe, with the understanding that we are a connected region, dependent on each other when it comes to commerce, education, and healthcare.

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