New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, announced Thursday that he will be assigning police officers to New York-area airports to act like border agents and force visitors to fill out forms “as to where you’re going” during the state’s effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
He said it will be “illegal to leave the airport without filling out the form,” according to Fox 5 New York.
The move comes as states report a surge in new cases and Cuomo said that there are now 39 states that are deemed dangerous enough by state officials to require a 14-day quarantine period.
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“Upon entering New York, if you are a traveler and do not have a suitable dwelling for your 14-day quarantine period, you must find appropriate accommodations at your own cost,” the report said, citing the state’s health department.
“We do face a threat from the states that rushed the reopening and were not ready. You turn on the news you listen all day, there’s still problems in testing. States don’t have tracing operations,” Cuomo said.
Besides President Trump, there may not be a U.S. politician so praised and vilified for his coronavirus response besides Cuomo. At times it seems that the governor is in his own reality, and appears to claim victory over the disease despite fierce criticism for his early response.
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Early in the outbreak, it was Cuomo who ordered that nursing homes could not refuse to accept recovering coronavirus patients, according to the Associated Press. Critics said that was the worst possible move he could have made at the time and exposed the state’s most vulnerable to the disease.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told Fox News on Thursday that Cuomo should be impeached over his response. He pointed out that New York saw 1,600 deaths per million people, which is the highest death rate in the country.
“Eight times worse than Florida, 10 times worse than Texas, even now with the surge in Texas and Florida. I don’t think there is a lot in New York that we could look to and say that’s what we should model after,” he said.
The report pointed out that on Monday, New York City recorded no coronavirus deaths, which marked the first time the city went 24 hours without a death from the disease.