NY Gov Cuomo Unloads Over Quarantine: “ If They Don’t Roll Back That Policy, I’m Going to Sue Rhode Island“

By all measures, New York City is the epicenter of COVID-19 in the US. This means that, of all the difficult questions being raised about how to deal with curbing the spread of the virus, most of them involve New York in some way, either directly or indirectly. And while President Trump decided against enforcing a quarantine of the area in favor of a travel advisory, some states’ governors are taking matters into their own hands.

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, in particular, has instituted a quarantine policy that will be stopping New Yorkers on their way into Rhode Island and mandating a 14-day quarantine period for those who plan on staying.

“Starting today at noon, state police are monitoring our highways, they’re at the base of the Newport Bridge, they are on the side roads in Westerly, and they will be pulling you over if they see that you have New York plates, and asking you for your contact information, and ordering you into quarantine if you plan to stay in Rhode Island,” said Raimondo.

“Starting tomorrow, the National Guard will be working with local law enforcement going door-to-door in our coastal communities, asking people if they’ve come from New York, and asking for their contact information,” said the governor.

…

Raimondo announced that she had “pinpointed” New York City as a specific risk to public health, and admitted that the quarantine policy was unorthodox: “I know it’s extreme, and I know some people disagree with it. If you want to seek refuge in Rhode Island, you must be quarantined.”

In a press release, Steven Brown, the executive director of the Rhode Island ACLU, criticized Raimondo’s move as an unconstitutional measure and violation of civil liberties, referring to it as a “blunderbuss approach.”

People have strong reactions to this policy, as well they should. It’s a little totalitarian, which is a bad thing, but on the other hand, totalitarian approaches are good for containing viruses: If someone’s holding me at gunpoint, I’m probably going to do what they ask.

But Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York REALLY doesn’t like Raimondo’s quarantine policy. He dislikes it so much, he’s threatening to sue over it.

“We’re talking to Rhode Island now. If they don’t roll back that policy, I’m going to sue Rhode Island,” Cuomo said on CNN Saturday evening, reports the radio station 101Wins. “No state should be using police to limit interstate travel.”

I expect this point of contention is going to be the first in a long series of disagreements over how many rights we should be expected to give up to curb the spread of COVID-19. As a staunch libertarian, my answer is predictably “none,” but I’m not the one making policy. My concern is that we’re going to see too many people say, “Well, authoritarian measures are useful against spreading disease, so we should embrace all sorts of big government intervention!” and then vote Bernie Sanders into the White House.

Yikes.

Please excuse my spiraling panic. I’ve had too much time to think lately.

Wash your hands and don’t go to New York for a while.