Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday said a new mandatory quarantine for people traveling from his state to the northeast isn’t going to be helpful when it comes to the budding economic recovery.
He said he understands where New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is coming from in trying to combat the coronavirus.
“But whenever you’re looking at growing our economy, trying to restore our economy this is not particularly helpful to that,” Mr. Hutchinson said on “Fox and Friends.”
People traveling to New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut from states with high transmissions of the coronavirus will now have to self-quarantine for 14 days.
For now, those states include Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, Utah, and Texas.
Mr. Hutchinson pointed out that there are exemptions for essential services.
“So we’ll continue to supply poultry, beef - other essential products there and so we’ll be going in and out,” he said. “We’re going to work very hard to reduce this virus here in Arkansas - we know we’ve got some work to do.”
Mr. Cuomo said on Thursday that if people don’t get caught breaking the law they’re fine, like with speeding and drunk driving.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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