The usually bustling Stamford railroad platform, seen here in a file photo, was nearly empty during the Wednesday morning commuter rush.
Photo: John Nickerson / John Nickerson
Photo: John Nickerson / John Nickerson
Lamont, New York governor dismiss White House advice for NYC visitors to self-quarantine
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While the Trump administration has issued a call for people who have recently visited New York City to self-quarantine for two weeks in the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Gov. Ned Lamont on Wednesday dismissed the advice and reiterated residents and officials should abide by existing federal guidelines, including six-foot social distancing.
Lamont, noting that train ridership to New York has dropped off by as much as 90 percent, agrees social distancing and the current closure of non-essential businesses, combined with tens of thousands of employees working from home, is the key to slowing the spread of the virus.
“Everyone should be practicing social distancing and teleworking if they can,” said Max Reiss, Lamont’s communications director, Wednesday morning. “Residents are heeding the warnings and we can see that based on ridership decreases on our trains and we see that our highways are empty. It is vital that those decisions continue. Like the governor has said, we need people to use common sense during this public health emergency.”
Joe McGee, vice president for public policy and programs at the Business Council of Fairfield County, said Wednesday that he checked out the Stamford train station during the morning rush hour and it was uncrowded.
“Mass transit is an issue,” McGee said. “Most of the large companies have their people working from home. There was nobody was on the highway this morning, either. White-collar people are working from home. Keeping people in place makes sense because we want to bend the curve.”
The White House advice came Tuesday, after New York State leaped into the national lead in coronavirus cases, with the epicenter in New York City. In reaction, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order requiring visitors from the New York area quarantine themselves for two weeks or face criminal penalties. It was unclear how it would be enforced, but there are criminal penalties.
Cuomo, in a morning news conference in Albany, had a polite but New York-style answer to a reporter’s question, asking that since Cuomo was in New York City on Tuesday, announcing the need for tens of thousands of hospital ventilators, would he self quarantine for two weeks.
“In New York State?” Cuomo replied. “No. If you were in New York City, you must quarantine in New York State. I’m going to quarantine in New York State. I don’t know medicine.”
He deferred to a top medical aide, who cited that the CDC guidelines on social distancing are sufficient.
“The federal government isn’t saying we mandate anything,” Cuomo said. “They saying we’re offering guidelines. There’s no doubt that New York has a different and bigger problem than anywhere else in the country, right? The federal government has done guidelines. They call them guidelines because they are guidelines and then states can follow the guidelines.”