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The states of California, Washington and Oregon have issued travel warnings to avoid all non-essential travel and urging 14 day quarantines for people entering the state after the number of COVID-19 cases continue to surge.
Residents are urged to avoid all non-essential travel out of the state and to not leave the country.
Those returning home from out of state or country and incoming travelers are all urged to self-isolate for 14 days to hep control the spread of COVID-19.
“California just surpassed a sobering threshold – one million COVID-19 cases – with no signs of the virus slowing down,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom. “Increased cases are adding pressure on our hospital systems and threatening the lives of seniors, essential workers and vulnerable Californians. Travel increases the risk of spreading COVID-19, and we must all collectively increase our efforts at this time to keep the virus at bay and save lives.”
The states’ travel warnings also urge residents to ‘limit interactions to their immediate households'.
Resident are urged to avoid all non-essential.
Acceptable travel reasons include:
- Work
- Study
- Critical infrastructure support
- Economic services
- Supply chains
- Health
- Immediate medical care
- Safety and security.
The California Department of Public Health is urging its residents to stay home and avoid all travel.
“Travel itself can be a risk for exposure to COVID-19, particularly travel through shared conveyance such as air, bus or rail travel,” read the advisory. “Avoiding travel can reduce the risk of virus transmission and bringing the virus back to California.”
In both Oregon and Washington, the message is the same. Stay home, don't travel and limit gatherings to your own household.
“COVID-19 does not stop at state lines. As hospitals across the West are stretched to capacity, we must take steps to ensure travelers are not bringing this disease home with them,” said Oregon Governor Kate Brown. “If you do not need to travel, you shouldn’t. This will be hard, especially with Thanksgiving around the corner. But the best way to keep your family safe is to stay close to home.”
COVID-19 does not stop at state lines. Our hospitals are being stretched to capacity.
— Governor Kate Brown (@OregonGovBrown) November 13, 2020
To protect public health, @CAgovernor, @GovInslee & I issued travel advisories:
✅ Against non-essential out-of-state travel
✅ 14-day self-quarantine after returning to state
✅ Stay local
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, the three states are hoping to prevent a similar outcome to that of Canada which has seen a large spike in cases.
Thanksgiving in Canada this year fell on October 12th which lead to a widespread surge in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
“Reducing your contacts, reducing your gatherings are going to be most important. And what we do in the coming days and weeks will determine what we get to do at Christmas,” pleaded Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau at a news conference Friday.
On top of the travel advisories, Oregon just mandated a two week freeze which includes restaurants providing take out only and all recreation facilities being closed.
Other measures include no visitation to care centers, limiting capacity on faith based gatherings and household gatherings limited to 6 from a maximum of two households.
The United States continues to see its darkest days of the pandemic yet as numbers continue to surge across the country.
There have now been 11,070,559 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States and 250,030 deaths.
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Disclaimer: Current travel rules and restrictions can change without notice. The decision to travel is ultimately your responsibility. Contact your consulate and/or local authorities to confirm your nationality’s entry and/or any changes to travel requirements before traveling. Travel Off Path does not endorse traveling against government advisories
Caroline A Liebenow
Saturday 14th of November 2020
S.B., Vinnie and Whitney: agree 💯%
Whitney
Saturday 14th of November 2020
Completely agree...honestly the more you travel the more you realize what a load of bull all of it is.
S.B.
Saturday 14th of November 2020
Eight months of staying home and being told we are not "doing enough," and yet my county only has a 2% infection rate, with mask mandates, everything already closed since March (gyms, movie theatre, no in-person schools are open, no inside dining, nothing is open, you can't try clothing on in a dressing room, and you already cannot go to work unless yours is an essential business). Guess what? I won't be staying home during my break after this much sacrifice, for this long, when the people getting COVID in my area are almost all in nursing homes and food processing plants. And if California shuts the airports down again, I will just drive to Nevada and fly out from there. Enough with this complete overkill: the mitigation measures are not working and it's not because people aren't trying: it's because you cannot close down essential businesses, plain and simple, and that is where transmission is happening.
Asking for compliance in the wrong places is pointless and counterproductive for public health.
Vinny the Adventurer
Saturday 14th of November 2020
Right there with you. This is nothing more than government officials drunk on power. Get busy living.