Air travelers will be subject to 14-day self-quarantine in Texas

Anyone flying into Texas from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut or the city of New Orleans will be subject to a mandatory self-quarantine for 14 days or the duration of their stay, per a new executive order Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday meant to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The order is in line with new federal guidelines, Abbott said, and will be enforced by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Violators will subject to a $1,000 fine or 180 days in jail or both. It only applies to those traveling by air, not by roadway.

“This is intended simply to achieve the goals that have been articulated by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and by the White House organization focused on reducing the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S.,” Abbott said.

Other states could be added in the future — California and Washington would likely be next, he said.

On ExpressNews.com: Air travelers will be subject to 14-day self-quarantine in Texas

Speaking from the Texas Capitol, Abbott said Texas is “on a very good trajectory” in terms of its testing for coronavirus. As of Thursday, 1,424 Texans had tested positive for COVID-19, up from 97 on Friday, and 18 have died from the disease, compared to five Friday. About 100 patients are hospitalized in Texas for COVID-19, he said.

“Less than 10 percent of the people who test positive need to be in a hospital as of this time,” Abbott said. “Our goal in this whole testing process is to test as many people as possible, to see those numbers grow and then to see a leveling off of the increase of those numbers in Texas.”

Click here to read more about the latest executive order.

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