American Airlines jets. Photo: J. Albert Diaz

Aiming to bolster quarantine enforcement, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced air travelers from states like Florida with significant coronavirus spread must provide their contact information or face a $2,000 fine.

Besides the fine, air travelers who refuse to give the information could be brought to a hearing and ordered to complete a mandatory quarantine, the governor said Monday.

"We can't be in a situation where we have people coming from other states in the country bringing the virus," Cuomo said.

It's unclear if the intensified enforcement will lead to new legal challenges.

Last month, New York required people entering the state to self-quarantine for 14 days after arrival if they are coming from states with significant coronavirus spread.

The move was codified in an executive order, which stipulated that a violation of a quarantine or isolation order could lead to a $10,000 civil penalty.

The order applies to people traveling from states with a positive test rate of more than 10 per 100,000 residents or exceeding a weekly rolling average of 10% positive test results. Florida laboratory results for the week of July 5 landed above 20%, and state cases pushed past 300,000 Wednesday.

As of Tuesday, the quarantine requirement applies to people coming to New York from Florida and 21 other states across the nation, including California and Texas. 

An emergency health order Monday stated all travelers subject to the executive order must complete a travel form. The electronic form asks for their name, phone number, date of arrival in New York and their method of transportation into the state, among other information.

Mary Beth Quaranta Morrissey, an attorney who focuses on health and public health law, said the state's moves highlight the dynamic between public health protection and civil liberties, but the efforts by the Cuomo administration are on sound legal ground. 

"We're not operating under normal conditions," she said.

Cheryl Kraus, an attorney at Rivera Law in Albany, New York, said public health orders have been used previously. But now she said there's more attention being paid to the state's moves because they impact more people and the pandemic response has been politicized.

Aairlines will distribute the forms on the plane, and they will also be available online, Cuomo said Monday.

"You must give officials at the airport your form, as to where you came from and where you're going, before you leave the airport," he said. It will be enforced at every airport in the state.

James Lytle, senior counsel at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Albany, said a legal challenge solely over the requested contact information would not be successful in court.

But the quarantine mandate could be tougher to defend in certain situations, he said. That could be a situation where a traveler from a designated state was forced to quarantine in New York even though they came from a remote area with a low infection rate and were able to show they posed no risk, he said.

To safely quarantine, a person must not be in public and must have the ability to self-quarantine from others in the household as soon as symptoms develop, according to interim guidance from the state Department of Health. It said food should be delivered to the person's quarantine quarters, too. 

A federal lawsuit challenged Cuomo's authority to require people to quarantine if they come to New York from certain states. It was brought by an Arizona resident who planned to fly to New York to help pack up a home.

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