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New York City was the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic back at the start of the American breakout of the disease. Over the months since then, the city and state alike have managed to bat the virus back and get the numbers under better control. However, the pandemic continues dragging on, and as the virus is quelled in some areas, it flares up in others.
The City is now setting up checkpoints at entry points into the city in order to help with mandatory quarantine efforts. These checkpoints will be used to screen travelers entering the country’s largest city. “Travelers coming in from those states will be given information about the quarantine, they will be reminded that it is required, not optional,” stated Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The checkpoints will be screening for travelers from 30 states that have high numbers of COVID cases. This is not dissimilar from the way that most European countries and many others have put a stop to all incoming American travelers. New York, a city that is very densely populated, is uniquely susceptible to massive disease outbreaks.
As such, it’s not surprising that de Blasio is taking steps to keep the virus from resurging in the city. After lengthy lockdowns that kept people in their homes, few are willing to go through that again. Being stuck inside, even with internet and TV, becomes maddening after months on end of doing the same thing.
However, many experts believe that the US may need more stringent lockdown efforts now than it did in March. Case numbers have stayed high in the country even after months of piecemeal efforts to slow the spread.
The US has made a number of missteps in addressing the virus. Namely, opening up from the lockdowns after barely enforcing them allowed the virus to spread unchecked for months. Many experts agree that the reopening occurred too quickly, and people were too eager to rush back out into the world when things opened.
This led to a whiplash effect, with states that had handled the pandemic well suddenly finding themselves thrust into an outbreak. With states implementing varying degrees of lockdowns, and interstate travel unrestricted, it wasn’t hard for the virus to continue spreading. As such, even now, the virus continues to spread like wildfire through some states.
The silver lining is that the death toll from the virus does seem to be levelling off. Hopefully this is evidence that is has evolved to be less deadly, though only time will tell.
