US President Donald Trump spoke on Saturday of a possible placement of New York State in “quarantine” due to the coronavirus pandemic, while remaining evasive on what exactly he meant by this term.
“Maybe one or two other places”
“We would like New York to be placed in quarantine because it is a hot spot,” he said as he left the White House. “New York, New Jersey, maybe a couple of other places, parts of Connecticut, I’m thinking about it,” he added, as many jurists questioned the possibility even for the US president to impose such a measure. The goal? “Limit travel,” he replied. “They have trouble in Florida, a lot of New Yorkers are moving south. We don’t want that.” “It would be for a short time,” he said, assuring that he had a “very good dialogue” with New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo.
I am giving consideration to a QUARANTINE of developing “hot spots”, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. A decision will be made, one way or another, shortly.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2020
Asked a few minutes later on this topic, Andrew Cuomo, who spoke Saturday morning with Donald Trump, said the subject had never been discussed. “I don’t even know what that means,” he said. “I don’t even know how this could be applied from a legal point of view.” New York is the epicenter of the epidemic that is now hitting the United States hard.
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